The Perfect Moment
by Sapphire Rose E
Summary: Miyu is a woman who has––no lie––been in 27 weddings in counting, never to find her own true love. But when she meets the daring Kanata and when her cousin/sister Chris comes home from Italy, let's just say that things get a little hectic! rated T
1. Life Purpose––Prologue

**AN: **hey everyone! Here's my new story! Don't worry, Once Upon A Time is coming along fine! Hope you all like this new one! I tired not to base it on 27 Dresses too much, but I couldn't help it. So, I hope you like it!

**Disclaimer:** I DO NOT own 27 Dresses or Daa! Daa! Daa!. Sometimes, I wish I could own something that popular and cool....

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY MAY 8, 2009

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Prologue

Life Purpose

_ Mozart found his calling at age five, composing his first minuet. Picasso discovered his talent for painting when he was nine. Tiger woods swung his first club well before his second birthday. _

_Me? I was eight when I discovered my purpose in live. It was 1986 and I was at the St. Thomas Church next to the Hyatt Regency in Weehawken, New Jersey. It was my cousin Lisa's wedding. _

I walked over to the pew were my dad sat with my little sister, Christine. He was busily trying to tie a dark purple ribbon formed into a headband on Christine's head into a bow. I slipped into the pew and said, "Here, Dad. Let me." I took the two ends of the tied ribbon from his hands and began to tie a bow. I could feel my dad's uneasy look.

_It was our first big family event since Mom died and Dad was not in great shape._

Christine hopped off the pew and turned to our dad. "Daddy, can you take me to the girl's room? I have to go pee."

Our dad gave us an awkward look; then glanced over at me. I took his hint and said, "Uh, come on Chris. Let's go." Then I led her to the bathroom.

While I waited for my sister, I looked in the large full body mirror and I examined my white formal dress. I pretended that I was the bride and smiled as I thought what my groom would look like: tall; handsome; brunet; brown eyes; gorgeous.

Someone screamed behind me. I turned to see my cousin, dress in her wedding gown, as she ran over to the mirror. I quickly moved out of the way. She examined the back of her dress in the mirror. There was a large tear in the back alone her waist. She cursed as she looked at it.

I giggled behind her. She turned to me and she gasped lightly. "Oh, Miyu, I'm sorry." She apologized for cursing.

"It's all right." I told her; then explained, "We have cable."

My cousin looked at herself in the mirror again. "What am I going do to? What the––"

Christine walked into the room, coming from the bathroom. Both my cousin and I looked at her. I noticed my sister's ribbon on her head and smiled. We took the ribbon from her hair and weaved it into my cousin's gown, fixing the tear. My cousin looked down at me with grateful eyes. "Thank you, sweetie. You saved the day." She motioned me to go behind her. "Miyu, get my train."

I smiled widely and picked up the train. The music started and my cousin and my uncle walked down the isle. I, as proud as ever, followed while I held the train.

_And that was the moment. That's when I fell in love with weddings. I knew that I had helped someone on the most important day of their life. And I couldn't wait for my own special day…_

**Twenty years later…**

A sleeves-less white, frilly gown was on me. I stood on a mini stage while the attendants of the store hemmed and put on the finishing touches. It was like I was a cake and the master chefs were checking to make sure that ever petal of the flower was perfect.

"Oh, Miyu, that's stunning. It really is. It's the perfect dress." One of the ladies said.

"Oh my goodness. You look so beautiful." The seamstress said as she looked at the mirror reflection of me in the dress.

I turned around, bringing the dress with me. "Really?" I asked with an impossible to hide smile. "You really think so?"

"It's amazing," she replied as she went back fiddling with the skirts of the dress, "like it was made for you."

A lady walked over to me with a telephone in hand. "It's for you." She extended the phone out to me. "It's the bride."

"Oh, great, thank you." I took the phone and held it up to my ear. I spoke into the receiver. "Hello, Suzuka?"

"Miyu, is it ready?" Suzuka's voice spoke over the phone.

"Yes, they just finished it." I told her.

"It fits?" She asked.

"I know. Thank God we're the same size." I chuckled.

"Are you going to come now?"

"I'm gonna have it over to you in just a minute." I told her. "Don't worry about anything. Okay?"

"Thanks, Miyu. You're the best!"

I chuckled a bit more.

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**NEXT:**

DOUBLE BOOKED

STAY TUNED!


	2. Double Booked

**AN:** hey all! T.G.!! (Thank God It's Friday!) I'm soo happy that its Friday! Tomorrow I'm just going to chill with my friends. We're going to go shopping! (fun, fun!) Then we're going to see our friend's play called According to Africa. It's done by the Christian Drama School of New Jersey. It's about missionaries in Africa and how God is real in their lives even though trials come and it's hard. GOD IS REAL.

so yeah, thanks a bunch to all that reviewed! I hope you all enjoy chapter one!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do NOT own Daa! Daa! Daa! or 27 Dresses. Thank You.

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY MAY 15, 2009

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Chapter One:

Double Booked

Miyu walked out the door with Suzuka's wedding dress in her arms as she walked into the streets of New York City. People around her were busy walking and driving about. She carefully descended the stairs and walked down the sidewalk as she was dressed in a platinum purple color bridesmaid dress. In her arms was yet another shopping bag. She quickly made her way through the small crowds of people and reached the corner of the sidewalk at the intersection. She waited for the light to turn green as She thought to herself how on earth was she going to do this?

Then she saw her best friend, Nanami, dressed in the same dress that she was. Her red hair was pulled back messily. Miyu gasped. "There you are! You look great." She gave her a hug.

"Thanks," she told Miyu.

Miyu grabbed Nanami's wrist and started to walk across the street. "Great, now, come on."

Nanami groaned as she dragged her along, as Nanami was especially in heels. Miyu remembered that Nanami had been drinking all last night. "Oh, here." Miyu handed her, her purse.

"What's this?" She asked Miyu as Nanami took it. A taxicab honked his horn at them as he drove by.

"I brought you a shawl, Visine, Tylenol, a pair of my earrings…"

"Ooh," she said as she dug through Miyu's purse.

Miyu glanced at her hair. "About your hair,"

She gave her a look. "What? The b---- said, 'Up.' It's up."

Miyu chuckled. "Okay, I'll fix it inside." Then they stepped up onto the curb.

"What's with all the stuff?" Nanami asked, eyeing it all.

Miyu groaned. "Let's just hurry."

Once we were inside, Miyu rushed the dress to Suzuka. Then, after fixing Nanami's hair, it was time for pictures. Miyu helped Suzuka fix her veil as she turned to Miyu and asked, "Aren't the dresses great?" Miyu nodded. "The best thing about them is that you can shorten them and wear them again later."

"Definitely. So true." Miyu quickly lied and turned to pose for the picture.

"Give me a smile." The photographer said as he flashed a picture. He looked over at the drooping Nanami. "Excuse me. On the right––"

Miyu elbowed Nanami in the side and she flashed a fake smile as the camera flashed.

Suzuka and her groom stood before the preacher. "We are gathered here today," the preacher said, "to celebrate the union of Suzuka and Aaron."

Miyu glanced at her watch. She had only twenty minutes….

"This is a time of joy," the preacher continued, rather slowly. Miyu looked around impatiently as she could practically hear the sound of ticking. A young man with locks of brown hair looked at her oddly. "As we honor," the preacher continued, "two people who have come together to me joined in holy matrimony."

Finally the ceremony was over. Miyu had but fifteen minutes. She hurried outside, squeezing pass groups of people and apologizing to them as she passed. She walked over to the curb and called for a cab. A cab drove up to the curb and she opened the door, climbing inside. She shut the door and looked at the driver. "Thanks. 31 Water Street. Brooklyn."

Miyu started to take down her hair. Her long locks of blonde hair fell around her shoulders. "Okay. I will give you three hundred dollars flat for the whole night. On one condition…"

"Yeah?" The driver agreed as he looked back at her in the mirror.

"You don't look in the review mirror or I deduct. Deal?"

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Great." Miyu sipped opened her bag, which held her other outfit in, and took it out. Then she began to get undressed. She noticed that the taxing driver was looking in the mirror. "Hey!"

"What are you doing?"

"You just cost yourself twenty bucks."

"I––No one's looking."

She continued to undress and then she slipped her other dress on––an Indian style turban thing that was orange and pink. When they pulled up to the street, Miyu got out of the cab and told him to wait. Then she walked into the building. Indian style music played in the room.

One of the other bridesmaids saw her and rushed up to her. "Thank God you're here. I'm freakin' out." She told Miyu as she pulled her aside. "I forgot my thingy." She explained as she pointed to her forehead.

"Oh," Miyu gasped, understanding what she meant, as she dug inside her shopping bag. "I brought extras. No worries." She pulled a circular stick-on body jewel off the wrapper and stuck it on the bridesmaid forehead. "Perfect."

"Thank you." The bridesmaid told her and walked away.

The bride came out and walked over to her. "Miyu, hi!"

"Hi," she replied as she handed the bride her bouquet.

"Aren't these dresses great?" The bride remarked. "And the best thing is that you can shorten it and wear it again."

"That is definitely so true," Miyu lied once again. No one would ever were this thing out in public. She then joined in the line of bridesmaid to walk down the isle.

"We are gathered here today to join in holy matrimony Shari Rabinowitz and Parakash Maharasti––known to his friends as 'Woody.'" The minister began as Miyu looked down at her watch. "Shari and Parakash are so happy that so many of you are here today––"

Once the ceremony was over, Miyu rushed out of the building and outside toward the taxicab. She saw the driver lazily leaning against the cab. "What are you doing?" She screamed as she rushed over to him. "Get in the car! Come on!"

He quickly obeyed and the both of them climbed into the cab. "Go! Go! Go!" Miyu told him and he started the car and sped away. She then began to undress again, quickly. The taxi driver couldn't help but look in the mirror. She caught him once again and held the Indian style wrap against her almost naked chest. "Hey! Hey!" She snapped. "You are down to two-sixty. Are you sure you want to keep this up?"

"No!" He replied unwillingly.

"Okay, then." She said and finished changing.

Miyu was finally back to Suzuka's wedding. She sat at a table with Nanami. "Okay, which do you want?" Nanami asked. As Miyu fixed her collar, she looked over at Nanami. "The brunet or the blonde?" Miyu looked over at the three-some group of men. "I kinda want the blonde. I'm not gonna lie."

Miyu scoffed at her. "Man, Nanami, can't you keep it in your pants for one wedding?"

"Are you kidding?" Nanami asked. Then she looked back over the group of men. "The only reason to wear this monstrous dress is so that some drunken groomsman can rip it to shreds with his teeth."

The young man with locks of brown hair stood outside while he talked on his cell phone. "What time is it now? Well, I'm just gonna be about two more hours or so"––he saw Miyu rush by him as she ran to the taxi––"I'll call you back." He told the person on the other line and hung up as he followed her, curious as to what she was doing. He watched confused as she climbed into the cab. The cab started and began to drive away as she unzipped her dress and slid it off. The young man's eyes widened at what he saw.

Everything was practically the same at each weddings. Miyu danced at one party to one song and danced at the other party to the same song. She helped each bride by holding up their dress while they peed. And she danced some more to the same songs at each party. She was there when both brides fed the grooms cake. And she was there for both of the brides' speeches thanking her for her hard work.

Suzuka stood at the front of the room with her bouquet in her hands. "I'd like to take a moment to give a special thank-you to a girl who's really gone above and beyond. The girl, who not only hosted my shower and designed the invitation, she went with me to the caterer, the florist, the wedding cake bakery," the crowd laughed, "And to eight bridal stores where she helped me cling to my self-esteem as I tried on dress after dress. So thanks, Miyu!" The crowd turned to face Miyu and applauded for her.

"Okay!" Suzuka shouted as she turned around. "Everybody ready?" All the unmarried women and girls gathered behind the bride. She then threw the bouquet and it went soaring into the air. All the women held up their hands to catch the bouquet.

Miyu gasped. The bouquet was headed for her! She reached up to grab it––then suddenly someone knocked into her and she fell on the ground. Everything went black in Miyu's mind.

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**NEXT:**

MR. CYNICAL

STAY TUNED!


	3. Mr Cynical

**AN:** hello everyone! yay! it's friday!! i'm sooo looking forward to the weekend! yay! well, here's chapter two!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY MAY 22, 2009

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Mr. Cynical

A hand gingerly touched Miyu's head. She groaned lightly and opened her eyes to look up at a handsome face of a young man with locks of chestnut brown hair and matching eyes.

"Is she all right?" Someone asked around them.

Miyu and the man could barely say a word, as they both were lost in the other's eyes. Miyu realized that she was lying down on the floor. She put a hand to her hand and tried to sit up. The man noticed her quickly and motioned for her to lie back down. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." He spoke. "Easy. Just take it easy. You don't want to move around too much." He gently lay her head back down as she gave him a weird look. He ignored her look and looked up at the other bridesmaids who gathered around. "Okay. This is a serious injury." He told them. "I need you to get me some ice. You, give me a bottle of 100-proof liquor and something she can bite on"––he snapped his fingers––"stat!"

"Okay." They said and rushed away to go get it.

He looked down at her and smirked. He helped her sit up. "She's fine, folks." He told the others who sat the tables around. "Just a little bump on the head. Carry on."

Miyu sighed as she sat up. She looked at him. "You a doctor?" She asked as she put a hand to he head.

"No," he replied, "but Tweedledee and 'Tweedledrunk' were bugging me, so–– Okay, do you know you name?"

"Miyu." She replied as she looked at the floor, still a bit out of it.

"Miyu," he repeated. "I'm Kanata." He held out his hand for a handshake.

She shook his hand. "Hmm. Thank you for helping me." Then she stood to her feet.

"Sure." He stood up as well. "Got it?" He asked as he helped her.

"Uh-huh." She said while she was on her feet.

"Okay. You good?" He asked, just to be sure.

"I'm fine." She told him as she smiled.

"All right," he replied as she smoothed out her dress. She looked around the room and noticed that everything was still spinning. She put a hand to her head and stumbled a bit backward. Kanata helped her stand. "Whoa, whoa. Okay. Um, why don't we get you a cab?" He helped her walk––his arm wrapped around her waist. "All right. Nice and easy. Let's walk."

He led her out of the building and to the cab that she head waiting. But before they left, Miyu was given a flower arrangement as a party favor. She took it willingly and placed the large arrangement in between her and Kanata. She looked out the window, hoping that he wouldn't talk to her.

He looked out the window, thinking of something to say. He turned his head and looked at her. "I loved your thong, by the way." He looked over at her mortified expression and had to hold back a laugh. "You buzzed past me earlier." He explained. "I saw you changing gowns." She still looked at him confused if she was really awake or still knocked out. He continued to talk, "You were in two weddings in one night, weren't you?" He smirked. "It's a little upsetting. Don't you think?"

"They're both really, really good friends of mine and their weddings just happened to be on the same night, so what was I supposed to do?" She told him.

He looked out the window. "Oh, no. That's not he upsetting part." He looked over at her. "How do you stand it? I mean, isn't one wedding bad enough?"

"I love weddings. I always have." Miyu replied quickly.

"Really?" Kanata asked, quite shocked, as he looked over at her pass the flowers.

"Yeah," she replied.

He rolled his neck and looked out the window again. Then he looked back at her. "Which part, the forced merriment, horrible music, or bad food?"

She sighed lightly. She could hardly believe this guy. "Actually, it 's meeting upbeat people like yourself."

He looked out the window again. "Love is patient. Love is kind." He looked over at her again. "Love means slowly losing your mind."

"What is it that you do again?"

"I'm a writer."

"Right," Miyu slowly nodded her head.

He laughed at her reply as he looked out the window once again.

The cab drove to the cub and stopped. "This is my building," she explained as she gathered her belongs.

"I got it," Kanata told her, referring to the flower arrangement.

"No. I got it."

"Sure?" He asked, unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Yeah." She told him as she counted the money in her hands. "All right, sweetie." She handed the money to the driver. Kanata took the arrangement and opened the door as he climbed out. "A hundred and forty. You know what you did." She turned to pick up the arrangement but looked to see and hear the other car door shut. "Hey! What––No." She turned her head to the driver. "He's going to be right back. Hold on." Then she opened the door and climbed out, shutting the door behind her.

"Don't you think," Kanata began as he stood on the other side of the cab with the arrangement in his arms while she walked around the cab to met him, "it's a whole lot of ritual for something that––let's face it––it's got about a 50-50 shot of making it out of the gate."

Miyu sighed dramatically. "How very refreshing. A man who doesn't believe in marriage." She reached out to take the arrangement from his hands, but he drew back.

"I'm just trying to point out the hypocrisy of the spectacle."

"Oh," Miyu remarked, "that's so noble of you. Do you also go around telling small children that Santa Claus doesn't exist? 'Cause someone needs to below that crap wide open." She reached for the arrangement once again, but he drew back again.

"Ah, so you admit that believing in marriage is kind of like believing in Santa Claus." He pointed out.

She realized that he was right; that her reasoning did sound like that. "No. I"––he gave her a look for her to continue––"I don't know why I am arguing this with a perfect stranger. But, yes, marriage, like everything good and important, it isn't easy. Cynicism, on the other hand," she took the arrangement from his arms, "always is." She held out her hand for a handshake as she was nearly squashed from the large arrangement. "It was very interesting meeting you."

They shook hands. "Bye," he told her.

"Yeah," she told him––eager to leave. Then, she walked across the street.

Kanata leaned his back against the cab. "So, you gonna be in any more weddings next weekend?" He shouted across the street as she walked onto the sidewalk.

She looked over her shoulder and said, "I have to go."

"How many have you been in, by the way? Just, like, ballpark." He asked, still wanting more information.

She had already begun to climb the small case of stairs to her building. She looked over her shoulder and told him goodnight.

He took that as a sign to leave and climbed into the cab. He told the driver where to go and the driver drover off. He thought, with an amusing smirk, about the woman he met. _"Miyu, huh?"_ He thought. He looked out the window and over at the empty seat next to him. He spotted something on the ground. He picked it up. It was a red, leather-bond, planner-like-thing that was over filled with small-cut pieces of paper. He looked at the driver, "Hey, you know what? Could you­­––"

"Yeah?"

Kanata looked down at the planner-like-thing in his hands. "Forget it."

"Yupp."

Kanata debated to open the thing or not. He quickly made-up his mind and opened it. He flipped through the many crammed pages. Appointments for stores, caterer places, meetings, and women's weddings were scribbled in the proper dates and times. He closed the planner-like-thing as the wheels in his head turned.

Miyu was in her apartment, dressed in some casual clothes, as she had just gotten out of bed. She stood in front of a large closet over-loaded with crazy-styled, formal dresses. She tried really hard to fit the new one in. Once she hung it up, she pushed the long skirts of the many dresses in and closed a door, one-at-a-time. She shoved the doors closed. She sighed and walked away as the doors opened back up by themselves, but she didn't care.

She walked into her living room, grabbed the newspaper for that day, and sat reclined back into her couch. She flipped through the pages of the paper. "Death. Destruction. Wedding vows. Yay." She pulled out that section and opened it up. She folded it up and looked for the article. "Come to mama." She looked at the article. It was by Ruu Saionji. She sighed as she read the wonderful words of her favorite writer.

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NEXT TIME:

GREAT STORY

STAY TUNED!


	4. Great Story

**AN:** hey! i'm sorry about not update this for like two weeks! i had some family issues and i had to sleepover my crush's house (hehe, i know i shouldn't be happy but it was my crush after all!) plus some of you already know, but my stupid dog peed on my laptop (GROSS!) and now some of the keys (like the A button) don't work. right now, i'm using my mom's computer––Thank God for internet and email!--so i can email my documents to myself and still be able to update now!

all right, to make it up to all you readers who've been waiting so long, today i'll update twice! so enjoy!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY JUNE, 5 2009

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Great Story

It was very early the next morning, but the lively city of New York was already awake and buzzing with lots of people and cars. One of those people was Kanata Saionji as he walked down the sidewalks with a tray of Starbucks® coffee. He turned and walked into the building of the NYJ (the New York Journal.)

"Jeter hit a walk off in the ninth. Did you see it?" Kanata's co-worker––Santa––asked, as the two of them walked down the hall. Both of them hand a cup of coffee in their hand.

"Uh, no." Kanata replied. "I work Saturday nights, remember?" He pulled out a small box that was a party favor from the wedding. He tossed it to Santa. "Here. From the happy couple."

Santa caught it and sighed, chuckling a little. The two men walked over to their office desks. "Oh, that's right. You were off in coconut cake and doing the Electric Slide. So how'd it go?"

They stopped once they reached Kanata's office. "Oh, let's see. The bride wore a grown that sparkled like the groom's eyes as he saw her approaching through a shower of rose petals." He turned to walk into his office.

"And you're not getting laid?" Santa asked, disbelieving the fact that Kanata Saionji didn't have a girlfriend––or did he even flirt with a girl and scored.

Kanata chuckled as he walked into his office as he listened to Santa, continuing, "Commitments is the gold standard of wedding announcements. Every girl on the planet rips open that page, first thing on Sunday." Kanata set his messager-bag and cup of coffee on his desk. "Brides kill to get in there." Kanata removed his jacket. "Do you have any idea what you can be doing?"

"You mean to woman who are about to get married?"

"Yeah," Santa quickly replied. "They won't call you. They won't bother you. They will pretend they never even met you. You can't beat that."

"Well, it's not gonna matter much longer anyway." Kanata said as he dug through his bag. He pulled out the planner-like-thing out from his bag. "You are looking at my ticket out of the taffeta ghetto, my friend." He dropped the planner-like-thing onto his desk and sat down.

Santa nodded, disbelievingly. "Keep on dreaming."

"Uh," Kanata looked up and flicked his wrist at him to shoo him away, "go away."

"Yeah, okay." Santa said and walked over to his desk. Kanata clicked on his mouse to his computer as he begun his work.

Miyu walked across the street with a small cup of coffee in her hands. She walked passed a parked cab and watched to see who walked out of it. It was none other then her best friend and co-worker, Nanami. She met up with her as she eyed Nanami's outfit: a pair of men's slacks and a men's dress shirt. Nanami held in her hand her rolled up dress from last night. The two of them began to walk into the building.

"What?" Nanami asked. "I wasn't gonna come to work in my bridesmaid's dress."

"Two-day walk of shame outfit. Elegant." Miyu commented as they entered the building.

Nanami laughed. "What happened to you the other night? You were barely there, and then you disappeared." When Miyu didn't answer right away, Nanami smiled slyly, "You meet someone?"

"Come on." Miyu rolled her eyes. "No."

"Oh. Ridiculous question." Nanami remarked.

Miyu scoffed at her as they entered their office floor and walked up to the front desk where the main secretary sat. "Good morning, Raven."

"Hi," Raven, who was all dressed in black, greeted back, pretty cheerfully.

"You haven't seen my Filofax anywhere, have you? It's about this big," she help up her hands to the length, "and red. I can't find it anywhere."

Raven shook her head. "No."

"No. Okay. I'll go look for it." Miyu said and turned to walk to her office. Nanami almost followed her as well, but then Miyu suddenly stopped and turned back to the desk. "Oh, did you get those catalog pages in for Mizuki? He wants to see them first thing this morning."

"No," Raven replied once again.

Miyu took a deep breath. "Okay. No worries. I'll get them from production." She then walked away from the desk and over to her office.

"Attagirl. Show her who's boss." Nanami mocked.

"I'm not her boss." Miyu clarified.

"You're the boss's assistant. Same diff. What's the good of your job if you can't abuse the power?"

"Nanami, go to Accounting." Miyu told her.

"Now, you're bossy." Nanami told her and walked over to her station.

Miyu chuckled as she walked to hers. She seat down in her chair and looked through everything in and on her desk, but she couldn't find her Filofax anywhere. "Where the heck did I put that thing?"

A hand slammed the red Filofax on a desk. Kanata moved his hand away from it as he spoke, "That is a great idea for the front page of the section."

His boss sighed as she put her head in her hands. "Come on, Saionji. How many times have I heard this from you?"

"I'm telling you, Miss Mizuno. It's a great idea."

"Really?" She asked, disbelievingly. "As great as your last great idea, an exposé on price-fixing at wedding cake bakeries?"

"Yes! Yes!" Kanata defended his cause. "They're ripping people off! Flour costs pennies per ounce. That's an eight hundred percent markup. That's outrageous."

"Yes, it is." She agreed half-heartily as she leaned back in her desk chair. She looked at him. "Also, no one cares."

"All right," Kanata began as he paced in front of her desk. He could play her little game. "What about the piece I wanted to do on the exploitation of workers in hand-made lace factories? That is a killer piece."

"Oh, right." Miss Mizuno agreed, sarcastically, "That's what people really wanna read about in the Style's section. Kanata, the section practically pays for the entire paper. Our advertisers want fun, up-beat, colorful, human-interest stories opposite their products."

"So, that's we're about now?" Kanata asked, bringing out the point. "Making monkey?"

"Get out," Miss Mizuno said, growing annoyed with him.

"All right. Listen." Kanata said, walking up to her desk. "That was not right. I get it. But this one is." He opened the Filofax and flipped through some of the pages. "Look, this woman have been in seven weddings––"

"So?"

"This year." He looked at Miss Mizuno, hoping to catch her interest. "She was in two on Saturday alone." He pointed out the date; then plopped it on her desk. She sighed as she picked it up to look at it. "But," he added as he walked around her office, "it won't just be about her. It will be an incisive look at how the wedding industry has transformed into something that should be an important rite of passage into nothing more than a corporate revenue system."

She looked up at him, not totally buying it. "In a fun, up-beat, you know, cheerful way." He placed his hands on her desk. "Look, Miss Mizuno, I am dying back there in Commitments." He watched her look over the pages in the Filofax. "If I have to write another sentence about baby's breath, I'm gonna shoot myself." He pointed at the Filofax. "This is a real story. This is what I wanna do."

She closed the Filofax and looked at him. "I need you covering weddings." She stood up from her chair and walked around her desk. "That's what you're good at and that's what I need you to do."

He laid it to her flat. "All right. If you don't start giving me feature stories, I'm gonna have to quit."

She looked at him, deciding whether or not to give him a chance. "All right. Once chance. If I don't like it, you go back to Commitments for the rest of your life with a big smile"––she gave him back the Filofax––"on that ridiculously handsome face of yours." She opened the door to let him out.

"Deal." He told her as he pointed the Filofax at her and he walked out. He had his once in a lifetime chance and he hoped dearly that this idea would bring him home.

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**NEXT:**

REALITY CHECK

STAY TUNED!


	5. Reality Check

**AN:** Here's your second update!!! Enjoy!

* * *

Reality Check

A phone rang in the office. Miyu looked at the picture spread out on the desk. "Do you think he'll like these?" She asked Nanami as Nanami trimmed the strands of her hair with a pair of scissors, randomly snipping away one strand at a time.

"Yes, I do." Nanami replied, not even looking at them. "I think those photos for the fall catalog will cause Mizuki to take you into his office and make sweet love to you fro hours and hours."

Miyu looked up at Nanami shocked and embarrassed. "Shh! Nanami!"

Nanami barely flinched. "Tell me that crazy crush of yours is the reason you work so hard as you do, 'cause it's really upsetting."

"Just like me job. Okay?" Miyu replied, a bit to cheerful.

"No, you just think that one day Mizuki is doing to wake up and realize that he is madly in love with you and he's gonna make some spectacular gesture of love––"

Suddenly, a deliveryman, with a large bouquet of flowers in his arms, walked over to the desk. "Flowers for Miyu Kouzuki." He set them on the desk.

"Yeah, that's me." Miyu told him. She looked at the flowers surprised and then back at the deliveryman. "Thank you," she told him. The deliveryman walked away.

Nanami looked at the flowers, perplexed. "That's great. I spent two-days in bed with a guy, and you get flowers. Nice."

Miyu looked up. "There's no note."

Nanami gave her a disbelieving look. "Oh, Miyu. You don't seriously think that they're from you're dream guy, do you?"

Miyu rolled her eyes. "Raven, could you take this to my desk?" She picked up the beautiful flower arrangement and handed them to Raven as she walked over to her.

"Sure. No problem." Raven told her as she took them, surprised at how heavy they were.

"Thank you." Miyu turned to look at Nanami. "Would you please stop saying that? Nobody knows."

"Everybody knows, Miyu. Except Mizuki."

"She's right." Raven said over her shoulder as she walked out of the office.

A large Saint Bernard barked and ran over to Miyu. "Chibi!" Miyu gasped and kneeled over to pet the excited dog. "Hi, buddy, hi!"

"Whoa, come on, Chibi." Mizuki said as he walked in. "No slobbering on the ladies."

Miyu stood up straight. "Hi," she agreed. "How was it?"

"It was phenomenal." Mizuki replied. "Up and back in ten hours––our best time yet."

"Isn't that, like, the eighth time you've climbed Mount Whitney?" Miyu asked.

"Yeah, but how do you remember that stuff, Miyu?" Mizuki asked, amazed.

Miyu shook her head and smiled. "I don't know." She looked at the photos on the desk. "So, we just got these in. What do you think?"

Mizuki looked down at the pictures of people having fun outdoors with nature. He glanced over each one. "I think they're too corporate."

"Yeah. That's what I was thinking." Miyu agreed. "They don't have enough of a feel of being…"

"Outdoors," Mizuki finished. "You're right. I mean there's no adventure. There's no danger. Plus, everyone looks way too put together."

Yeah," she agreed, "like models. Got it. I will talk to Marketing."

Mizuki nodded. "See? That's why I keep you around, Miyu." He walked away. "I mean, who else could finish my sentences?"

Miyu laughed lightly as she followed him with Nanami behind her. She looked at her schedule. "Your design meeting is at eleven. And the 92nd Street Y called to confirm that you'll be attending their benefit. You wanna go?" She asked, closing her folder.

"Do I have to make a speech?"

"Just a few words," Miyu waved her hand in the air like it was no big deal, "about ecologically responsible business practices––something light and fun. You in?"

"Yeah. Yeah," he agreed. "Let's do it. Put it on the calendar," he walked up to his office doorway and turned around, "but I'm probably going to need to dig up a date for that, huh?"

"Yeah. Probably."

"At least that the one thing in my life that you don't have to take care for me, right?" He told her; then walked into his office.

"Yeah," she breathed out. She turned to walk back to her office with a sigh. Nanami stood at her doorway and watched her passed. "Oh my… goodness." She walked into Miyu's office.

"Leave me alone," Miyu told her as she du up a piece of paper to right down the date for the benefit.

"Miyu!" Mizuki called.

"Yeah?"

Mizuki walked out of his office and looked at her. "Did you put that breakfast burrito on my desk?" He asked as he pointed back at his office.

"I just thought you might be hungry." She explained.

"That's why I love ya." He told her with a smile and walked back to his office.

Miyu was fixed in a trance. "I love you too," she mumbled out.

Nanami marched over to her and slapped her across the check to bring her back into reality. "Oh!" Miyu gasped, as she held her check and turned her head back to face Nanami. "Thanks. I needed that."

Nanami walked off and Miyu went back to right down the date for the benefit. Before everyone knew it, it was closing time already. While everyone started to leave, Raven stood at the front desk and announced, "Okay, everybody. I hope to see you all at my engagement party tonight." Miyu and Nanami walked toward the door together. "And thanks, Miyu, for arranging everything."

"No problem," Miyu told her with a smile.

Miyu and Nanami entered the streets of New York City. "Hey, do you wanna come over to my place before the party? Some of the guys from Shipping are coming and they're bringing tequila and bubble wrap."

"Fun!" Miyu told her as she tried to sound excited as possible. "I can't. I gotta pick Chris from the airport."

"God! Wouldn't it be great if there was a service that you could hire to do that? Like yellow cars or shiny black sedans––"

"I want to pick her up. She's my baby sister."

"She's like what? Two years younger? And she's not even your real sister. Isn't she like adopted or something?"

"We've been over this before, Nanami. She's my cousin, but her parents died when she was only a baby and left her in my parents care, so techinally we're sisters." Miyu explained as they walked.

"Whatever," Nanami rolled her eyes.

"Plus, Chris needs my help so––see ya." Miyu walked passed her.

"Wouldn't wanna be ya." Nanami said and walked across the street.

* * *

**NEXT:**

KID SISTER

STAY TUNED!


	6. Kid Sister

**AN: **hey everyone. wow, the school year went by sooo fast. tomorrow is our school's graduation. (i'm not graduating, but some of my friends are.) it's kind of sad, really. i won't see them for a really long time. at least we still have the summer. anyway here's chapter five. enjoy.

**NEXT UPD****ATE: **FRIDAY, JUNE 12 2009

* * *

Kid Sister

The planed had landed. Miyu waited in the luggage area for Chris. A beautiful young woman with long, gorgeous, strawberry-blonde hair walked into the luggage area. Miyu and the young woman's eyes met. Christine smiled and giggled as she quickly walked up to Miyu. They both said hello and hugged each other.

Miyu noticed the single, small bag in her hand. "Hey! When did you start traveling so lightly?"

"Oh," Christ turned around to the made behind here with a cart of suitcases. She turned back to Miyu. "I always meet the nicest people on planes."

"Hmm. Come on. I'm parked in P-9."

Chris opened the door to Miyu's apartment and stepped inside as Miyu flipped on the lights. Rudolfo said he wanted to come back to New York with me, of course, but I told him that I needed space, you know?"

Miyu giggled and she dragged in Chris's entire luggage. "_Spazio,_ Rudoulfo! _Sapzio_!" Chris explained as Miyu shut the door behind herself. Chris looked around at the apartment. "Oh! This is so tiny and cute!" She turned to Miyu. "I love it." Miyu laughed as she put the entire luggage on the floor.

"It's so good to be home." Chris remarked as she set her one small bag on the table. "Six months away feels like forever." Christ noticed a picture frame in front of her. She picked it up and looked at the picture. It was am old newspaper clipping of a couple on their wedding day. "Mom was my age, you know? Almost to the day."

"Yeah," Miyu agreed as she looked at the picture over Chris's shoulder. She sorted through her mail. "It was the perfect wedding–– The Boathouse, the big band, ceremony at sunset."

"Except that dress," Chris remarked, "I mean, synthetic lace and the inverted box pleats."

Miyu breathed out a chuckle. "I think it was perfect." She continued to look through her mail.

Chris set the picture frame back down. "Well, they really did love each other."

"Yeah," Miyu agreed, still sorting through the mail.

Chris picked up some newspaper clippings. "What are these? Wedding announcements?"

"I'm"––she reached from them and took them from her sister––"No. They're just. I was––Excuse me. I was going to recycle them."

"Oh, well, excuse me. Into what? Wallpaper?" Chris turned and went into the kitchen part of the apartment.

Miyu scoffed as she finished looking through the mail. "It's just this one guy." She set down the mail and went into the kitchen to join Christine. "Ruu Saionji––I only keep his. He writes the best ones." She walked over to the cabinet and took out two mugs. "I just––I love the stories. The crazy proposals… the engagements." She looked at Chris who was applying hand sanitizer to her hands. Miyu set the two mugs down on the table. "Yeah, never mind. It's not really your thing. So, um, how long are you staying?"

"Um, a week or two 'cause the fall fashion shows are done, so I don't have much work."

Miyu poured some lemonade into the mugs. "Oh, speaking of work. I am meeting up with some people from the office tonight for a party. Wanna come?"

"Actually, I'm having drinks with some friends from Milan."

Miyu walked over to set down, handing her a mug of lemonade. "Oh, so let me get this straight. You would rather have drinks with Italian models than go to my _awesome_ work party?

Chris mocked a scoff. "Weird, huh?"

"Yeah," Miyu agreed.

Chris stood up. "But I'll try to make it."

"Well, thanks." Chris walked over to the refrigerator. "Grey Goose is in the freezer. Red Bull is on top of the 'fridge. And in the cupboard there are––"

"Strawberry Pop Tarts. Jinx!" They said together, however, Chris said jinx first.

"Ah! I said it first! I beat you!" Christine said as she opened the cupboard while Miyu groaned.

The city was twice as lively at night than how it is in the morning. Kanata rode in a cab. He flipped through the pages of Miyu's Filofax. "St. Marks and A." He told the driver; then snapped the Filofax closed.

"You got it."

The club was lively with music, people, dancing, and flashing lights. Mizuki greeted Raven and gave her a gift for her engagement party. "Hey, Mizuki!" She greeted back.

"Great party."

"Thanks for coming!"

Miyu stood with Nanami as they both had a drink. Mizuki walked up to them. "You got them champagne glasses and a bottle of Cristal." Miyu reported.

"Good," Mizuki turned to Nanami. "All right. Any way she's gonna believe that it actually came from me?"

"Maybe," Miyu replied as she stirred her drink with her straw. "I wrapped it like a car ran over it."

"Nice," he remarked, "Nice touch."

"Ah, look. I'm going to go to the bar. Get a couple of drinks. You guys need anything? A little liquid courage? Some maybe hair of a dog for you?"

Nanami forced out a fake laugh.

"I'm good. Thanks." Miyu told him, and he walked away from them and to the bar.

Nanami gave her an unbelievable look. "He asks you if you wanted a drink, you smile and say, 'Vodka soda.' If you already have a drink, you down it. Then there's some flirting, some interoffice sex, an accidental pregnancy, a shotgun wedding, and a life of bliss. How many times do we have to go over this?"

"I don't want to think I'm irresponsible." Miyu explained.

"Yeah, that's what guys want," Nanami sarcastically agreed, "responsible. Mmm!"

"You're wrong. Mizuki appreciates me for who I am."

"What good is it being appreciated if no one's naked?"

Miyu gave her a teasing looking.

"Miyu," Mizuki said and Miyu looked over at him, "look. By the way, did you get that thing I left on your desk this morning?"

"O-On my desk?" She looked over nervously ay Nanami who just sipped some of her drink.

"Yeah, is that okay?"

"Okay? It was great."

"Okay. Good. Good," he said, "'Cause you know, we haven't really had that kind of relationship before so I just to make sure that you are okay with it."

"Hey, Mizuki!" Some called behind them.

"Ah, excuse me." Mizuki said and walked away from them.

Miyu turned to Nanami and squealed, "He gave me flowers! He gave me flowers!"

"Okay, stop it." Nanami spoke calmly. "This is real life. This is not a fantasy. You have to go over there and tell him how you feel." Miyu nodded. "Okay, so it's now or never, so––so now." Miyu nodded again. "Now! Now! Go!"

"Yeah!" Miyu walked through the crowds of people over to him as she took deep breaths.

Christine, who was wearing a flashing, short dress, entered the club and looked around for her sister. Her eyes met Mizuki's and his met hers. They smiled at each other; then they both started to walk over to each other.

Miyu noticed them walked toward each other, but still she kept walking until the three of them met together. Chris looked over at Miyu. "Miyu," she spoke.

"Oh, sorry. Uh, Mizuki, is this my sister Chris. Chris, this is my Mizuki. No––wait I didn't mean that––"

"I'm her boss. Miyu is my assistant; kind of like my right hand man." Mizuki explained.

"Lucky her." Chris commented.

"Yeah," he said, "It's kind of like what ever I need, she takes care of. As if I don't take enough advantage already, I even dropped my dry cleaning slip on her desk this morning."

Miyu sighed. "You're dry cleaning slip," she mumbled.

"It was an emergency so––"

"Of course," Christine immediately agreed. "Good fluff-and-fold is no joking matter."

"Yeah," he agreed, "Especially when you're down to your last pair of socks."

Chris laughed. "Right."

"You wanna get a drink?"

"Mm-Hmm. I came to have a drink with my sister––Miyu." She explained and walked off with him.

Miyu forced out a small smile. Someone tapped her shoulder. She turned to see the one man she didn't want to see right now––Kanata Saionji. "Hi. How are ya?" He told her and she gave him a flabbergasted look. "Were the flowers too much?"

Her jaw dropped. "They––They were from you?"

"Uh-huh," he nodded.

"You sent them. The angry marriage-hater." He nodded and flashed a cute smile. "Oh, that's–– That's such… good news. Good news. Hey, Kanata, can you hold this for just one sec?" She asked him and handed him her drink.

"Uh, sure." He said as he took it. He gave her an odd look.

"Thanks," she told him and walked away. She walked over to the back door and opened it. She marched outside and screamed with all her might, "Motherf––"

Kanata watched her yell outside the door and he watched with a confused and amusing look.

Miyu slapped her purse against the corner of a brick wall as she squealed. "Why? Why?" She then heard someone clear his throat. She turned to look in front of her a gathering for a fifth wedding celebration. Everyone stared at her. "Oh," she mumbled as she turned a bright shade of crimson. "I'm so sorry," she told them as she caught her breath. She fixed her bangs and chuckled. "Congratulations. Fifty. Wow. That's––" She turned and walked through the door, shutting behind her.

She walked back over to Kanata. "I'm sorry. You were saying?" She asked as she took her drink from him.

"Uh, I just asked if you got my flowers." He told her. "Oh! And I have something for you." He handed her, her Filofax. "I think this belongs to you."

"Oh my goodness! Thank God!" She said as she took it from him.

"Yeah, you left it in the cab. It was either the engagement party tonight or Thursday's bikini wax, so––I thought––"

She gave him an unbelievable look. "You read it?"

"Yeah. Well, no. I _tried_ to read it. It was very, very hard. All your little notes and the cramped handwriting. It's very Unabomber. You know, they do have these Space Age computer date books now that take care of everything for you."

"Oh, yes." She nodded. "Well, I don't need to be taken care of. Thank you." She walked pass him.

Kanata grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Um, hey wait, have a drink with me. Yeah?"

"Um," she looked over at Chris and Mizuki and how Chris was flirting with him, "you know––Thank you for bringing me my Filofax, That was very nice."

"It's a drink. It's not a week in Ohau." He told her. "Come on. It'll take the edge off." He watched her shake her head. "Come on. Just one drink."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be very much… fun tonight."

"Got it. Totally got it." He told her. "So maybe I'll bump into Thursday?" He joked; he just loved to see that shocked expression on her face. "Maybe not. See you around." He smiled and walked away.

She smiled. He was trying to cheer her up. Nanami walked up behind her and startled her. "Who was that? And where can I get one?" They both looked over their shoulders as Kanata exited the club. "Is he coming back?"

"That's freakin' insane." Mizuki said while Chris laughed. "I could never do that."

"No, no." Chris shook her head.

"You didn't eat it?"

"Oh, my god. I didn't even see it. I promise."

Miyu walked up to them. Chris glanced at her and then looked back at Mizuki.

"It's late." Miyu said. "You must be exhausted. Let's––You wanna––"

"Let's go dancing," Christine suggested.

"What? No, I don't––Mizuki, you don't wanna––"

"Yeah. No, I'll go. Okay." Mizuki agreed. "But I gotta warn you, I'm a terrible dancer."

"Come on," Chris smiled and flipped her hair.

"No. It's true. In fact, on several occasions, they've had to call the paramedics." Mizuki admitted and Chris giggled. "You wanna come too, Miyu?"

"Um," she looked at Chris who shook her head, "um, no. No. You guys go. Have a good time."

"Okay. Let's go." Chris said as she stood up and Mizuki followed her to the dance floor. Miyu watched as her sister and crush walked away. Christ looked over her shoulder and mouthed: _Thanks, Miyu. I love you._ Miyu only smiled and nodded. She decided that now was the best time to go home––it had been a long night.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

WAITING

STAY TUNED.


	7. Waiting

**AN:** hey sorry about not updating on friday! i totally forgot, but here's your update even though it's late. yeah, i'm very sorry about that.

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY JUNE 19 2009

* * *

Waiting

Miyu hurried to the door of her apartment and looked out the peephole. She had been home for more than two hours, and Christine still had not come back from the club. When she didn't see anyone, she opened the door and stepped into the hall. She looked down the hall for anyone, but saw no one. She walked back inside her apartment and slammed the door shut.

She finally decided to go to bed. She turned off the lights and climbed into her large, queen-sized bed. "Go to sleep, Miyu." She told herself for what seemed the millionth time. But she couldn't go to sleep. Her imagination took over her mind and she thought about all the fun Chris must be having with Mizuki. She groaned and turned on her side. She looked at the clock on her nightstand. She groaned again, "Three a.m.?" She climbed out of bed and turned on her light.

She walked into her living room and turned on the lights. She walked across the room, looking back at the closed door, and picked up a magazine. She sat down and flipped through the pages, not really paying attention to them, but rather to the door.

She went to the bathroom and put on some lotion. She walked out, rubbing the lotion into her hands, and looked over at the door. It didn't opened and no one was there.

She went over to her desk and turned on her laptop. She searched the web for some new things, but still she kept looking at the door. Alas, it did not open and there was no one there.

When she was bored of the computer, she tried doing some sit-ups. But after three, she couldn't do anymore. She lay back on her floor exhausted with a heavy sigh. She looked up at the ceiling, thinking of what to do. She smirked as a new idea popped into her head. She stood up and went into the kitchen.

She started to clean the stove. She sprayed the cleaner on the stove and scrubbed away at it with the sponge. "Oh, hi, Chris. How was your date?" She mumbled to herself. "Nice? What? You talked about me the whole time? Don't feel bad. I'm just a really important part of his life. We spend every hour of every day together." Suddenly, Miyu heard the door creak open. She stopped scrubbing and turned to look at the door. Christine tiptoed inside, still dressed in the same dress that she wore to the club. She looked over at the kitchen and saw Miyu. "Hey," she agreed as she closed the door. "You still up?"

"Yeah, I'm just doing a little cleaning. Harnessing my chi." Miyu explained as she scrubbed a bit more.

Christine walked over to the couch and sat in it. "Miyu, I had the best night ever."

"Oh, that's right," Miyu, who was bent over scrubbing, said as she pretended to remember, "I totally forgot that you went out." She straightened her back and she hit her head on the cupboard above her. "Ow!"

"Is that weird for you?" Chris asked as she rested her chin on the back of the couch.

"What?" Miyu gasped as she rubbed the back of her head. "Weird? Why would it be weird? He's my boss. I don't care. Whatever." She went back to scrubbing.

"Okay, great!" Christine said, perking up, "Because we're having lunch tomorrow."

"That's so great!" Miyu said in an all-much too happy tone.

"Yeah, I think so too. Except not quite at that decibel." Miyu chuckled nervously and went back to scrubbing. "So tell me about Mizuki," Chris begged.

Miyu stopped and looked over at her; then she looked back at the sparkling clean stovetop. "Oh, well, I––" She looked over at her sister's eager face and sighed. "Uh, he, uh," she took of her cleaning gloves and set them on the stove and walked over toward the couch, "he dropped out of college and then climbed every major peak in the world. And then he started Urban Everest from his apartment and turned it into one of the most eco-friendly philanthropic businesses in the world"––she sat down on the couch next to Chris––"all before he was thirty."

"Wow," Chris said in amazement.

"Yeah, and that's just his résumé. He is an unbelievable boss. Everybody loves him. Everybody. And he loves his dog, Chibi, more than anyone. He doesn't eat red meat, which is kinda cool. And he would rather spend is time outside than anywhere else."

"He sounds amazing," Chris said dreamingly.

Miyu felt a little awkward now. "Yeah, but he has his flaws. He does. He is flawed."

"What do you mean?"

Miyu tried to think of all the things like Chris liked or hated. "Well, he hates cashews which is weird. And sometimes he doesn't wear socks with sneakers. I just think that's gross."

"Miyu," Chris interrupted, "those aren't exactly deal-breakers."

"Deal?" Miyu let out a nervous laugh. "What deal? I mean," she let out another nervous laugh, "nothing happened between the two of you tonight, did it? Did it?"

Chris smiled slyly. "Well…"

"Oh. I got cha. _Nice_." Miyu nodded. "Mmm," she chuckled and watched as Chris walked to her room, "Fun. Sounds fun." She couldn't believe it! Her little "sister" just had sex with the man she loved!

* * *

NEXT TIME:

CALL ME

STAY TUNE!!


	8. Call Me

**AN:** hey guys, i'm terrible sorry AGAIN! i have the memory of a goldfish. seriously. i can never remember any thing that i have to do. okay I WILL update friday, i promise! but i'm not going to update for TWO WEEKS since i'm going away to two different camps. (Baptist Bible College for basketball and High Point Camp for FUN). So, i won't have the internet or anything. so you'll just have to wait until July! i'm sorry about this, but a girl deserves her break!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY JUNE 26 2009

* * *

Call Me

Miyu and Chris climbed out of their dad's car that was parked right in front of a hardware store. Miyu carried a brown bag of groceries inside the store as Chris followed. The bell jingled as Miyu opened the door. "Dad?" She called.

Yuu Kouzuki was arranging a few things on the shelves. He turned and saw Miyu. "Oh, hey, sweetie." He walked over to her and noticed the bag of groceries in her arms. "Oh, you didn't have to"––Chris then opened the door and burst into the room––"Christine!" He gave her a big hug while she giggled.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Look at you," he told her examining her.

Chris let out an excited sigh. She looked around the store eagerly. "Wow, Dad. This place looks exactly the same."

Their dad rolled his eyes. "Now that's not fair. I got a brand-new awning. I just stripped and re-varnished all the woodwork. Look. New cash register. Digital."

"Oh. Wow, Dad, I'm sorry. I don't know how I missed all these remarkable improvements." She teased and laughed.

Their dad smiled. "Give me that," he took the bag from Miyu. "Let's go upstairs."

Mr. Kouzuki set a plate, down on the table, of Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes with blueberries for eyes and cut strawberries for mouths. "There you go."

"Dad, aren't we a little too old for these?" Chris asked him.

"No," he told her.

"Great. 'Cause I love 'em!" Chris said as she took a few and put them on her plate.

Miyu chuckled as she took a sip of her coffee. "So, Chris," their father started, "how long are you here for?"

Christine hesitated to answer and Miyu said, "One to two weeks, right? That's what you said."

"Um, actually, it depends on how a few things pan out." She cut into her pancake with her fork.

Miyu swallowed her coffee nervously. "What things?" She asked, fearing Chris's answer. Chris's cell phone rings and she stands up to go get it. "Wha––What few things?"

Chris picked up her phone and looked at the number. She flashed it at Miyu and mouthed: He_'s calling_. Then she answered the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello? Hi!" She disappeared into the other room.

"Let me guess." Yuu Kouzuki started as he put his mug down on the table. "Some new guy is chasing her?"

Miyu swallowed. "I wouldn't call it 'chasing.'" She laughed nervously.

"Oh, Mizuki, I would love to," Chris's voice flowed into the room.

Miyu looked at the entrance to the room that Chris was in desperately. Her father noticed that. "Miyu?"

She turned her head to look at him "What?"

"You okay?"

Miyu perked up. "Yeah! Oh, yeah. Great! Fine. Everything's fine." Then she dug into her breakfast.

Miyu sat in her desk at her work. She flipped though paper as she listened to Chris's flirtatious giggle. She glanced over at Mizuki's office to see Chris leaned over his desk and tease him with a pen. He took the pen from her with a smile. "I'll take that," he told her.

She gasped. "I gotta stop." She told him.

Miyu flipped through the pages of her Filofax as she mimicked them under her breath. She flipped to a page and saw largely written in black marker was: **KANATA SAIONJI 917-555-0137**. She flipped to the next page and his name was written in the Saturday slot. She turned to the next page and his name was written again the Saturday slot. She clenched her fists together in anger.

Kanata and Santa walked across a street. Both of them had a cup of Starbucks® coffee in their hands. "She's gonna call me. I grantee it." Kanata told him. "I gotta a way of making the ladies reach out to me." He explained.

"Oh, yeah? How?" Santa asked, not believing him.

Miyu looked at the page with his name and phone number. "Oh, God," she muttered. She picked up the phone on her desk and dialed his number. She waited for him to pick up.

Kanata's phone rang as he and Santa walked. Kanata took it out from his pocket and looked at the number. He smirked at Santa as he flipped open his phone. "Yello."

"You ripped a week out of my planner," Miyu said into the phone, "Are you insane?" She asked.

He chuckled. "It's just a little experiment. See how you do without every second of your life mapped out."

She breathed out an annoyed chuckle. "By the way," he spoke, "your life is insane. What do you do besides work and help people get married?"

"Yeah, you know what? I don't see how that's any of your business."

He still pressed on further. "And how do you afford all these weddings? I mean, the dresses, the airfares, the wine of the month club?"

"Hey," Miyu snapped into the phone, "people love that gift. And I'm a frequent member. So sometimes they throw in free gewürztraminer."

"Wow, that is… that is terribly sad. I'm sorry about that." Santa tapped him on the shoulder to wait for him as he walked into a store. Kanata stopped walking and waited for Santa. "Ah, well, look. I wanna make it up to you. Okay. How about a new date book? Or maybe just a date?"

Miyu scoffed a chuckle. "Uh, yeah, sure. Let me pencil you in. Except, hey! You already did for every Saturday for the rest of the year."

He smiled as he listened to her voice as she continued, "You know what? Can you please, please just find someone else to be creepy with? "

"Nope," he quickly replied, "Tell you what. Anytime you wanna hang out with somebody who doesn't need you to take them to a fitting or cake-tasting,"––Miyu smiled as she listened to him over the line––"or a coed mojito and burrito rehearsal dinner, just give me a call."

"Yeah. Okay." She rolled her eyes and hung up the phone.

Kanata laughed as he flipped his phone close and stuck it into his jean pocket.

Miyu turned in her chair as she moaned. She had enough of Kanata Saionji to last her a lifetime.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

COMPATIBILITY

STAY TUNED!


	9. Compatibility

**AN:** i update on time this time! I didn't forget! yay! okay, okay, i'm a few hours late, but i was busy today. i went to my friend's birthday party and we all had a blast! okay, i'm going on my break for two weeks next week! just to remind you guys! well, i hope you enjoy this chapter!

**NEXT UPDATE: **FRIDAY JULY 17, 2009

* * *

Compatibility

A twelve year old Spanish boy dressed to play a baseball game walked into the office. He saw Miyu. "Hey!" He called.

She turned around. "Hey!" She walked over to him and went to give him a hug. "You getting too old for hugs?" She asked, just to be sure.

"Nah," he told her and they hugged.

"There he is," Mizuki said as he walked over to them. "Pedro, how's it going'?"

Pedro turned and walked over to him. "Hey, what's up?"

Mizuki turned to Chris. "So, Pedro, is my, uh––"

"I'm his little brother," Pedro introduced himself.

Mizuki saw Chris's confused expression and explained more, "From the Big Brother Program down at the YMCA."

"Oh," Chris said with a smile.

Mizuki looked over at Pedro. "Chris just happens to be Miyu's sister."

"Oh," Pedro replied.

"Hola, Pedro." Chris spoke to him in a loud voice. Everyone just stayed quite for a second.

"Yeah," Mizuki began, "Uh, look, Miyu, Chris and I are gonna take Pedro to his baseball game if you wanna join us."

Miyu sighed. "Uh, I can't. I've got a ton of work to do. I should stay here."

"Are you kidding me, Miyu?" Mizuki asked. "Your boss is a jerk anyhow. Now, let's go. I don't want to have to fire you."

Miyu giggled. "Okay."

"All right." He turned to Christine. "All right, let's go."

Mizuki walked up to the window of the concession stand at the ballpark. "Hey, how are you doing?" He greeted as Miyu and Christine walked up to the window as well.

"All right," the man at the window told him.

Mizuki looked at he menu on the wall. "Uh, let me get three Diet Pepsis, three fries, and––" he turned to look at the two ladies.

"Chili dog." Miyu blurted out. She turned to Chris. "You want a chili dog?"

"Uh, no." Chris replied. "Not unless it's a tofu dog with meatless chili."

Mizuki looked at her and so did Miyu. "I'm sorry. What?" She asked Chris, baffled at her words.

"You're a vegetarian?" Mizuki asked her.

"Uh-huh," Christine nodded her head, making her strawberry-blonde curls bounce, "It's recent."

"Oh, is it?" Miyu remarked.

"You know," Mizuki spoke, "'cause I'm a vegetarian too."

"Oh."

"I used to be a vegan," he explained, but it was too much of a hassle."

"Oh, I know. I mean, even being a vegetarian is a challenge." She agreed. "I mean, every time I go hiking, I have to bring my homemade 'tofurky jerky.'"

"You go hiking?" He asked, confused, and she nodded. "I mean, no offense, but you hardly seem like,"––he took the tray of food from the man at the window––"the kind of girl who hits the trails––Especially in those shoes."

Miyu giggled. "Don't be silly. The best 'tofurky' is made by publicists in kitten heels." She explained, going along with Chris's lie.

Chris hooked her arm around Mizuki's arm and dragged him away. "I can see how you would think that, but actually I love,"––Miyu followed right behind them––"all that outdoorsy type of stuff–– You know hiking and biking and climbing up things. But, to tell you the truth, I haven't been hiking since––Well, since my dog died. See Miyu and I had this dog growing up, Tory. I just––I loved him. He would just go on nature hikes and climbing adventures." The three of them sat down in the stands to watch the game. "Not a day goes by when I think about that bag of fleas. Good ol' Tory." She ate one of her french fries.

"Miyu," Mizuki began, "how come you never mentioned Tory?"

"I don't know. I must have repressed the memory of _Toby_."

"Yeah, his name was 'Toby', but I called him 'Tory' because I had a lisp" Chris explained.

"A lisp that turned your B's to R's?" Miyu asked as she ate a french frie.

"You know what?" Mizuki spoke up. "When I was a kind, I had a stutter."

"No way," Chris gasped. "We have more things in common than I thought."

"Yeah, me too." Miyu agreed while she munched on a frie.

Mizuki looked over at Pedro as he warmed up. Mizuki stood up and said, "I'm going to go out and shag some flies with Pedro."

"Ooh! I'm jealous. It sounds like fun." Chris said with a flirty smile. She turned to Miyu. "What are 'shagging flies'?"

"What are you doing?" Miyu demanded.

"What?"

"You hate dogs and tofu and being outside."

"No. I like yachts. I like flowers. I like, you know, tanning." She explained. "I mean, it's not exactly the same––"

"You hated Toby." Chris gave Miyu a look. "You hated him. The only animals you ever cared about are dead one with sleeves. You're just saying all this stuff because Mizuki is so… attractive." She looked over at Mizuki and added, "Or some people thing he is."

"I did not hate that dog," Christine clarified, "I just hated when he sobered on me. And I could like soymilk and hiking if I tried it. Maybe."

Mizuki leaned up against the fence to the baseball diamond. "Hey, Chris! What do you say you come out here? Let's see that arm."

Chris set down her fries and stood up. "Ooh. Fun." She walked over to him. "Are we gonna shag now?" She asked with a giggle.

Miyu munched on her fries as she watched Chris walked up to him. "Ever done this before?"

"No, I've never done this." Chris told him.

"Here you go," he handed her a bat.

She held it with both hands. "Okay. Like that?"

He wrapped his arms around her and helped her. "Put this arm down there. All right? Hold that elbow up."

"Okay," Chris giggled.

"All right. Hold it right there."

Miyu munched nervously on her fries.

The days and weeks flew by. Mizuki kept sending flowers to Chris and spending every minute with her. Even his computer screensaver had her face on it. He even had breakfast with their father. And if that wasn't enough, some days Miyu would walk into _her _apartment to find them making out on _her_ couch.

Before everyone knew it, it was Raven's wedding. Raven, being a gothic-chic, walked down the isle in a black dress. Miyu, being one of her bridesmaids, also wore a black dress and spiked collar. She formed a "Rock-n-Roll" sign with her hands and stuck her tongue out. Chris smiled and returned the sign. Mizuki, who sat next to Chris, gave her the sign as well.

Chris grabbed his wrist and moved his thumb so that it was facing out. "Did you know that in sign language, this means 'I love you'?"

"I love you too, Chris." Mizuki told her and kissed her.

Miyu watched horrid as the man she loved kissed her sister. She looked over at Nanami. Nanami looked back puzzled. Miyu nodded her head toward Chris and Mizuki. Nanami looked and saw them kissing. She looked at them appalled.

The next day at work, Miyu sat down at her desk. She looked at note taped to her desk lamp. **DRINKS? KANATA:** was written in marker. She took the note off her lamp and crumbled it up.

"Miyu!" A voice called. She looked up to see Mizuki as he walked over to her with a tie in each hand. "Which one sucks less?"

She picked the striped one. "This one."

"Good." He set the other one down and wrapped the striped tie around his neck. He looked at her. "Maybe, uh, would you mind again?"

"Nope."

"Thank you." He told her as he let her tie his tie.

"I do it for my dad all the time," she explained. "You okay? You seem a little bit nervous."

"Yeah. No. I'm cool." He told her as he tucked in his dress shirt. "How's it look?" He asked.

"Great." She fixed his collar. "There you go."

"Thank you," he told her and walked into his office.

"Mm-hmm." She nodded; then she went back to hers, wondering to herself where was he going.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

UNWILLING WITNESS

STAY TUNED!


	10. Unwilling Witness

**AN:** hey, sorry about not updating this yesterday. i forgot again and i was at my church for an all-nighter. We went bowling and played games at the church and stuff. it was fun, but now i'm really tired. okay, well, i hope you enjoy chapter nine!!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY JULY 24 2009

* * *

Unwilling Witness

Everyone had gone home for the day––expect Miyu. She walked into Mizuki's office to clean up his desk. She piled the papers and folders on his desk. She noticed his wallet and picked it up. She glanced at his schedule and saw the restaurant he would be at. She smiled and gripped the wallet as she left his office.

She took a cab to the restaurant and walked inside. She noticed that the whole place was empty. When she rounded the corner, she saw a candle-lit table set for two, rose petals everywhere, and a few men playing instruments. Two other guys let a banner fall down that had the words, WILL YOU MARRY ME?, on it.

Mizuki walked into the room on the other side. He saw Miyu and held up his hand to the men. "Oh, hey. Guys, guys! Hold it. She's not the one. She's not the one."

The men stopped playing and the other guys rolled the banner up again. Mizuki walked up to her. "Hey, Miyu. What are you doing here?"

"I'm so sorry," she began, "I should've called, but you forgot your wallet." She handed it to him.

"Thanks," he told as he took it.

Chris came right behind. "Hey, sorry I'm late." Chris looked at he room before her.

Mizuki turned to the men. "Hey, guys, now."

The men began to play and let down the banner. Chris looked at Miyu. "Miyu, what's going on?" She asked.

Miyu shrugged her shoulders. Mizuki turned and whistled. Chibi ran into the room with a bow tied around his neck. A box was tied to the bow. Mizuki removed the box and walked over to Chris.

Miyu felt that she was in the way, so she walked over to the group of men playing instruments.

"Hey, Chris," Mizuki began, "Will you do me a favor?" She nodded. "Sit down a second." She sat down in a chair beside the candle-lit table for two. Mizuki held her hand and looked into her eyes. "So, Chris, my parents met playing hopscotch when they were, like, eight, and they've been married for forty-two years. And I've been waiting my whole life to feel the way my dad felt when he met my mom. And maybe I've been just too busy trying to make something of myself but I think I've missed some of those moments. But, Chris, the second that I saw you I knew that we could be great together. So, um–" he opened the box and inside was a diamond ring, "Chris, will you marry me?"

"Yes, of course I will." Chris said and he slipped the ring on her finger. She sighed. "Mizuki." She kissed him and he kissed her back.

Miyu stood there and watched it all. Her heart was being crushed into little pieces. Her crush was about to be her brother-in-law.

Chris showed the ring to her father. "So, wait. Does this mean that you going to moving back here?" Yuu Kouzuki asked. Chris, Miyu, and Mizuki went to their father's house the next morning to tell him the good news.

Chris looked at her fiancé and smiled. "Yup."

"Whoa. Well, I––I don't know what to say." He spoke. "You gave Miyu a job," he pointed at Miyu who sat in a chair, "and then ya get Chris to move back home. Mizuki, you're my hero. I mean it." He gave Mizuki a friendly handshake.

"Oh, thank you." Mizuki said. "You have a couple of pretty great girls here."

Their father got an idea. "Wait, just a second, I wanna get something. Don't go anywhere." He told them as he walked out of the living room.

Mizuki and Chris gave each other an odd look. He whispered something into Chris's ear. "Who isn't?" She replied. "I'm so glad we did this today. He's so happy."

Their father came back in the room with a white dress. "Chris," he began. Miyu looked horrified at him.

Chris stood up and gasped, "Oh, Daddy."

"You're mother would have wanted you to have this."

"Oh, Daddy, thank you." She told him and hugged him. He gave the dress to her. She looked at Miyu. "Miyu, you don't mind right?"

"No," Miyu shook her head, "no."

"I mean, you can have it after me."

"No." She stood up. "That's right. Mom would have wanted that." She hugged Chris. "Mom would have wanted that."

"That's my Miyu," their father said.

"Okay. Yeah. That's right," Miyu said, more to herself rather than Chris. Then she walked out of the room.

Chris brought the dress over to Mizuki. "It was my mother's," she explained as she sat down next to him. "Isn't that amazing?"

"That's beautiful."

"Dad, I don't even know what to say."

Miyu wiped a tear from her face. Chris had everything––looks, personality, talent, her love's heart, and her mother's wedding dress.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

JUST SAY NO

STAY TUNED!!


	11. Just Say No

**AN:** hey all! i'm sorry to say, but Once Upon A Time might not be updated for a long time since I don't have the time nor the will power to write it all. Instead i'm just gonna work on my original story When Life Gets You Down. But I will continue to update to this story since I have the chapters prewritten. I'm sorry and we'll just see what will happen in the future!!

**NEXT UPDATE: **FRIDAY JULY 31 2009

* * *

Just Say No

Miyu walked down the streets of New York City. She walked into restaurant and looked around inside. She spotted him sitting at the bar and so she walked over and sat down in the stool next to him. "Hey," she told him with a nervous smile.

Kanata Saionji looked at her and nodded. "Hey," he replied.

The bar tender came over and asked what she wanted to drink. She asked for a scotch and Kanata asked for the same. The bar tender went to get their orders. He looked over at her. "Uh, so I'm just trying to figure out why you decided to meet with me." He explained. "I mean, you've been ducking me"––the bar tender set their drinks in front of them––"and then, all of the sudden––"

"My little sister is getting married," she explained as she choked back her tears from earlier that morning from when her dad had given Chris _her_ mother's wedding gown––the same gown that Chris thought to be ugly. She took a drink from her glass and let the bittersweet drink enter her mouth.

"Ah," he said nodding as he took a sip from his glass, "before you."

She set her glass down and rolled her eyes as she calmed down a little. "That's not what I'm upset about."

"Then what are you upset about?" Kanata asked her as he ate a peanut.

Miyu groaned. "You don't know Chris. She's gonna want me to do everything. I'm not just going to be her maid of honor. I'm going to be taking care of _everything_." She cringed at the word as she thought about it. Everything meant _everything_: the invitations; the cake; the music; the food; the dancing; the gift list; the party favors; the brides maid dress; the list went on and on.

"So why don't you just say 'no'?" Kanata simply suggested.

Miyu looked at him a bit confused. "What?"

"Say, 'No.'" She looked at him a bit surprised and when she didn't reply, he asked, "You have said, 'No,' to people before, haven't you?"

She shook her head lightly at his crazy question. "Yes," she rolled her eyes, "of course." She stuck her nose in the air, proud like. "Many, many times. In this situation," she glanced over nervously, her pride falling out beneath her, "never. Not once." She bit her lip. How can she say no to Chris? Even if she wasn't her blood related _sister_, she was still her blood related _cousin_ who was like a sister––that counts, doesn't it?

He pointed his finger at her. "Ah, but you _want_ to say, 'No.'"

She chuckled and looked over at him. She really wanted to cry at that moment as she thought over the fact that Chris was marrying her––Miyu's––boss and crush. She choked back her tears. "But I can't. It's my sister."

He watched her slightly amused. He thought her to be awfully cute when she was like this and he thought her to be awfully sweet. He smirked as he watched her take a sip of her drink. "But you can say, 'No.' But because it's your sister––All right." He held up his hands. "You know what we're gonna do? We're gonna practice. All right? We're gonna practice saying, 'No.'" She looked at him like he was nuts. "You think I'm kidding?" He asked her, flashing her an irresistible smile. "Turn around. We're gonna play this game. Come on. Humor me." She smiled and turned to face him

"All right. Miyu, give me fifty bucks." He told her flatly.

She took a deep breath and told him sternly, "No."

He gave her an appalled looked. "Miyu, it's just fifty bucks. I'll pay you back." He really liked his acting skills right now.

"No," she replied quickly.

He almost smiled at her. She was doing really well, but could she last the final test? His face softened and he gingerly grabbed her hand. He stared into her eyes while he caressed the top of her hand with his fingers and spoke, "Miyu, I need you to give me fifty bucks."

She couldn't answer at first. She looked into his eyes that held so much sincerity and begged for_ her_ help. Her heart throbbed in her chest. She looked away, not wanting to look into his eyes. "No?" She looked up back at him.

He still looked at her with the same look and it almost made her heart break. Then he reached over, letting go over her hand, and ate some more peanuts. "Eh, not bad."

She let her breath go. One more second of that and she might have just fell to the floor.

He reached over for her drink asking, "Can I have your drink?"

She turned back to the bar top. "Sure." He took it and took large a sip out of it. She then turned back to him and snapped, "No!" He held up a finger and groaned at her while he took the sip from it. "Oh, no," she smiled as he set her drink back down on the counter and flashed her a cute smile.

"You were doing so well," he commented. She looked into her lap embarrassed as she shook her head and smiled. He pointed at her glass. "That's terrible."

"Mm-hmm," she nodded as she laughed.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

PICTURE PERFECT

STAY TUNED!!


	12. Picture Perfect

**AN:** hey everyone! Look, I updated on time this week! yay! Also, next week im going back to BBC for a soccer camp, but I return on Friday, but you know me with the bad memory and all, I might for get or be too tired to. So i'll most likely update next Saturday instead. we'll see what happens next week. ENJOY CHAPTER ELEVEN GUYS!!

THANKS TO tima9992003 for being MY ONLY REVIEW last chapter. I really appreciate it!!!! Please do review guys, I love them!!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY OR SATURDAY AUGUST 7 OR 8 2009

* * *

Picture Perfect

Miyu and Chris walked down the walking path Central Park. "So you went by the flower shop and order the favors?" Chris asked.

Miyu yup-ed and uh-huh-ed as she flipped through the pages of her Filofax.

"What about the invitation mock-ups?" Chris asked as she turned to Miyu.

"Done," Miyu replied.

Chris started to walk a little bit faster as she smiled. "This is so much fun!"

Miyu sighed and thought sarcastically, _"The best!"_

"Did I tell you I asked Momoka to be one of the bridesmaids?" Chris asked.

Miyu was clueless. "Who?" She asked she brush a random piece of hair away from her face.

"Cousin Momoka." Chris explained. "Second cousin twice removed."

Miyu let out a sigh as she thought about another cousin to be a bridesmaid. "What about Mimi?" Miyu asked. "Cousin Mimi?"

"Oh," Chris remembered. "No way. She's so pregnant. It'll just throw off the aesthetics."

Miyu looked disappointedly ahead of her. Chris sighed. "Look. I'm sorry. I know you don't _like_ Momoka."

"What's not to like about a woman who asked me if I chaired the Itty Bitty Titty Committee all through out my high school years?" Miyu asked dryly.

Chris chuckled at the memory. "Just don't listen to her." Christ explained. "Your boobs came in eventually. They just missed high school."

"Hmm," Miyu agreed, not really caring. She wondered what they were doing out here. They were already nearing the boathouse. Just where was Chris taking her?

Chris turned to her as they walked. "As for the third bridesmaid, I want you to ask your friend, you know, that really rude one."

"Nanami?"

"Yeah."

"My Nanami?"

"Yeah."

"You want _Nanami_ to be in _your_ wedding?"

"Yeah, yeah. She's really pretty. She can pull off a strapless. You know that I don't have many girlfriends"––Miyu scoffed at her choice of words––"For some reason, girls don't like me. I don't know why." Miyu gave her an Are-You-Kidding-Me look. Chris rolled her eyes. "Okay. Fine. I know why. Will you just ask her?"

Miyu looked up with a look on her face that said, "What's with your attitude?" and "Why Nanami?" She sighed. "Sure. Of course."

"So, I was also thinking," Chris said, getting back on track with the wedding details, "we could do a slide show for the rehearsal dinner. You know, put pictures of Mizuki and I together and say funny things."

"Okay," Miyu chuckled out. Chris was just piling more and more work for her to do.

"Oh, and guess what?" Miyu looked over at Chris. "That writer you obsess about, he wanted to do a whole Commitments column in the _Journal_." She turned back to looked at Miyu. "He called me. Can you believe it?"

Miyu rolled her eyes. "At this point, I absolutely can." _Another point for Chris_, Miyu thought.

Chris took a deep breath as they walked. "Listen, um, I've been thinking a lot about what you said, and I think you're right." Miyu looked at her oddly. What did she say? "I think it would be special if I did a wedding just like Mom and Dad's."

"Just like?" Miyu asked, hoping that it wasn't true.

Chris tried to hold in all of her excitement by clenching her hands together in front of her stomach. "You know, especially since I'm wearing Mom's dress. So, ta-da!" Chris held out her hands in front of her as the two of them stopped walking. Miyu looked ahead and saw it. It was true. They were at…

"The boathouse?" Miyu questioned out loud.

"Uh-huh," Chris nodded and Miyu looked over at her speechless. "At first," Chris continued, "when I called, they said they had no availability for eighteen months. But then the ninth time I called, they said they had a cancellation. Apparently the bride slept with the groom's father and brother and sister and all these people. So, obviously, it got cancelled and they were all devastated. But which means, we're getting married in three weeks!" She giggled and hugged Miyu,

"Wait, three weeks?" Miyu asked as she was forcefully hugged.

Chris pulled back. "Uh-huh. Oh, Miyu, I know you can pull it together quickly." Chris looked at the boathouse and so did Miyu. "I didn't want to wait that long anyway, so…." Chris sighed. She looked over at Miyu's helpless look. "Uh, you could be a little excited for me."

"No, I am. I am." Miyu explained. "It's just––"

"It's just that you wanted a wedding at The Boathouse in Mom's dress too." Chris finished with a guilty look on her face. "I know," she added.

Miyu took a deep breath through her nose and smiled slightly. "No. I just–– didn't know that that's what you wanted but if it is, then I just want you to be happy. You know that."

Chris smiled widely. "Great!" She turned and started to walk again. "Okay, now can we talk about more important stuff?" She turned back and saw Miyu just standing there. "Come on." Miyu walked up to Chris and they walked together. "I really don't like the linens and I think we need to rent new ones because they do not go with the color scheme that I picked out."

_Chris: 4_

_Miyu: 0_

"That selfish w---." Nanami whispered out rather loudly as she stretched. Miyu and Nanami were in the middle of Pilates. Some of the other class members turned and shot her a glare, but she continued to talk and stretch. She bent over to touch the floor. "I can't believe it." She whispered. "I cannot believe it." She looked over at Miyu as she bent over. "There is no man that won't fall for her. Even a do-gooder like Mizuki." The class members changed their stance to an almost split. "Men just become hypnotized by her voodoo and they lose their minds." They changed positions again and Nanami looked over at her. "You can't plan your b---- of an adoptive sister's wedding to the man you love. It's sick."

"Well, to be fair, she didn't know how I felt about him," Miyu whispered back. "And nor should she––he's my boss. I'm just going to have to get over it. I don't really have a choice. And neither do you," she told Nanami, "She wants you to be a bridesmaid."

Nanami scoffed and stood up straight. She turned to her. "You are sh------ me."

"Hello?" One the class members called.

"Please," another one said with a glare.

Nanami went back into position. "No. No. I won't do it on principle." She reached up and stretched. "I say, 'No,' on principle. No, you can count me out."

Miyu sighed. "Please," she looked at her and begged, "please don't leave me alone in this. Please. Please. Please."

"Fine," Nanami whispered, "Fine. Because it's you." She pointed at Miyu. "But if she crosses me, I'm gonna kick her a--. And then, I'm gonna kick your a--. Then I'm going to have a couple of drinks––" She was interrupted by the leader of the class as the leader hit the gong to make Nanami shut up.

Nanami fell silent for a moment. She looked over at Miyu. "You know, there no sign that says, 'No talking.'"

* * *

NEXT TIME:

#1 FAN

STAY TUNED!


	13. Number 1 Fan

**AN:** hey sorry for not updated yesterday like i promised! i was exhausted and out all day, plus i sort of forgot. but here's the update! i would have updated sooner but fanfiction was have diffculties so, yeah. by the way, BBC was fun, but I hurt my hipflexor muscle and was out for a while, but i'm all better! :D

**NEXT UPDATE: **FRIDAY AUGUST 14 2009

* * *

#1 Fan

Miyu was at the New Warsaw Bakery Inc. She was inside the kitchen talking to the head baker. "Three weeks?" He repeated with a French accent, surprised. "It cannot be done." He motioned to the three layered, beautifully frosted in white cake that he was working on. "It is not enough time for one of my creations!"

"Okay, um…" Miyu paused to think of what to say. "Antoine," she breathed out a chuckle, "remember when I brought you the Schecters and they commissioned that six-tiered heart-shaped masterpiece? Then, of course, the tower of edible gifts for the Schifman-Guardino outdoor fiesta. You can do anything and we both know it. So, you're gonna do the cake and you're gonna do it in three weeks, and I would like a discount please."

Antoine smiled––adding more wrinkles to his face––and shook his head. "Three week?" He asked. "It pleases me."

Miyu smiled. "Delightful." She turned to Chris and Mizuki. "We have a cake," She announced. Chris went to clap, but someone else beat her to it.

They all turned to see a man with brown hair and brown eyes (a messager bag thrown over his shoulder) as he clapped loudly and smiled at Miyu. Miyu immediately recognized him and looked at Kanata confused. "What are you doing here?" She asked him.

Kanata ignored her and walked straight up to Chris with his hand extended out for a handshake. "Hi," he greeted, "I'm Ruu Saionji."

"What?" Miyu gasped.

Chris took his hand and shook it. "Oh," she gasped, "yes. I didn't want to believe it until you were here." She let go of his hand and turned to Mizuki. "Um, this is my fiancé, Mizuki."

Kanata shook his hand. "Hi. Congratulations to the both of you."

"Thank you," Chris told him with a wide smile.

Miyu watched confused. The man standing before her was the person she knew as Kanata, but he was really Ruu Saionji? Things didn't make sense at first, but now things clicked into place. He had lied to her! He had been lying to her since the moment they had met!

Suddenly, Mizuki's cell phone rang. He dug in his suit-jacket pocket for his phone. He pulled it out and looked at the number. "Oh, Babe. I gotta take this."

"Okay," Chris said while Kanata looked over at the still shocked Miyu and he gave her one of his cute smiles. That smile, along with everything else spinning around in her head, almost made Miyu faint.

"If there's a cake emergency," Mizuki's voice floated into Miyu's mind, "I'm right over here." He walked over to the corner of the kitchen.

Christine giggled. Then she remembered Miyu. She motioned over to Miyu. "Oh, and this is my sister, Miyu." She turned back to Kanata––or Ruu? ––And spoke to him, "She's is, like, obsessed with your stories." Miyu forced out a chuckle, hinting for Chris to stop. But Chris kept going. "She keeps them, but pretends that she doesn't but she does."

"Okay," Miyu told her, hinting again that she was telling him way too long. Kanata looked over at her and smiled, impressed at what Chris was telling him.

"She's your number one fan," Chris told him. Miyu looked over at her, silently asking her what she had just done. Chris turned back to Kanata and added, "Not in a creepy way though."

"Right," he nodded.

Miyu finally got a chance to speak to him. She took a couple of steps closer to them. "You said your name was 'Kanata.'" They looked at her oddly. "As in 'Kanata.'"

"Well," Kanata began to explain, "I used 'Ruu' for the byline so I don't get stalked by crazy brides." He quickly changed the subject. "So, how did you meet Mizuki?"

"You're an a------." Miyu told him bluntly.

Chris snapped her head toward her. "Miyu!"

"What?" Miyu asked. "I'm sorry. He said his name was 'Kanata.' Not Ruu. I'm just––I'm just a little confused."

"Wait," Chris gasped, "you guys know each other?" She asked––now she was confused.

"Well," Kanata began, "we both work in the wedding circuit, so…"

Chris nodded her slowly. Miyu "hmm-ed" and then she turned to Chris. "Can you give us just one second? I'm just gonna––over–– for one second talk to––talk about you." She dragged him over to the other corner of the kitchen.

Chris nodded and walked over to the baker as he worked on his cake. "Antoine," she began.

Miyu stopped and paused, taking a deep, cleansing breath. "You lied to me," she told him bluntly.

He shook his head once. "No. I told you that I was a writer," he clarified, "Not what I wrote about."

She shook her head. That wasn't going to make things better. "But––But you write the most beautiful things. Do you actually believe in love and marriage and pretend to be a cynic or are you a cynic who knows how to spin romantic crap for girls like me?"

"I didn't follow that at all," he told her, "But I think the second one, the spinning crap one."

Why was this happening to her? "Oh my goodness. I feel…I feel like I just found out that my favorite love song was written about a sandwich."

Kanata nodded, confused at her odd comparison.

Chris walked up to them. "Um, can I steal you away to tell you about Mizuki and me?" She asked.

"Of course, of course." Kanata told her and walked pass Miyu. "That's _why_ I'm here."

Miyu sighed and shook her head again. Again it was about Chris. Even Kanata was here for _Chris_.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

27 Dresses

STAY TUNED!!


	14. 27 Dresses

**AN:** Hey everyone! Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I went to the beach and then I had indoor soccer at my school, so I was exhausted. I went to bed as soon as I got home. But I did remember and I updated today! Thanks for all your reviewers! It makes me very happy when I see you review!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY AUGUST 21 2009

* * *

27 Dresses

Kanata walked down the streets of New York City. He looked up at the semi-familiar apartment building. He walked up the stairs to the door.

Miyu was busy scrubbing away at the dishes in the sink. When suddenly, a knock was cast upon her door. She set the dish that she was scrubbing in the sink and wiped her wet and soapy hands on a dishtowel. She went to answer the door. She looked into the peephole to see Kanata Saionji standing there nervously as he inhaled deeply. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. He was the last man that she wanted to see. "What?" She called out to him. "Chris is not here."

"I'm here to see you," he said with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Why?" She demanded.

"Come on. I have to talk to all the friends and family." She walked away from the door with a sigh. "It'll take five minutes. Please?" He begged. When she didn't answer right away, he added, "For Mizuki and Chris?" He heard her scoff and he knew he shouldn't have said that, but when the door opened up, he was surprised. He smiled. "Thank you."

She tapped her fingers on the doorframe, waiting him to ask away.

"May I come in?" He asked, nervously.

"Just ask me what you wanna ask me," she snapped at him. "Or would you prefer to lie some more?"

Kanata looked at her shocked that she still thought that he had lied to her. "I didn't lie to you. I don't know why you keep saying that." He dug into his pocket for something. "I may have left out a couple of things."

"Can we just get this over with?" She asked, interrupting him, as she steeped out of the doorway to let him in. She walked over to her pile of newspaper clippings of all his stories and stuffed them into a drawer.

Kanata pulled out a voice recorder. He held it up to his mouth as he closed the door behind him. "The maid of honor is a peculiar young woman." He walked over to her in the kitchen. "So, tell me how you feel about Chris's whirlwind romance." He pressed the record button on the recorder and held it in her direction.

She had begun scrubbing dishes again. "Couldn't be happier. She's my kid sister. I taught her how to tell time, how to ride a bike,"––Kanata wandered the room as she talked––"how to steam flounder in the dish wisher." She looked back down at her dish that she was scrubbing. "I mean I practically raised her––Oh," she stopped and turned to him, "please, don't print that. That would kill my father."

Kanata looked down the short hallway and saw the large closet door overflowing with dresses. "Wait, what are those?" He asked, pointing his recorder at them.

She glanced over that the closet. "Nothing."

"Are those," he took a few steps down the hall.

"No!" She put the sponge and dish into the sink and rushed over to the closet. They both got there at the same time and she pushed him out of the way. She tried to shut the door closed but he tired to pull it open.

"Are they bridesmaid dresses?" He asked.

"This is none of your business," she told him as she struggled to shut the door close. However, he was much stronger than her and he pulled the door open. She stood between him and the many dresses jammed-pack in the closet.

"Oh. Good God." He gaped as she accidentally hit the other door and that door opened wide to expose the whole collection of hideous dresses. "What? You kept them all? You have whole closet full. Why?"

She tried to push some of them inside the closet. "I have a lot of friends and I like to keep them, Mr. Nosey."

"Right," he told her––his words full of sarcasm. "Well, that makes perfect sense because they're––they're beautiful." He lightly tugged on the skirts of a ruffled pink and purple one.

She brushed his hand off of the dress. "Some of them are not that bad."

"'Not that bad?'" He repeated. "I'd like to see on of them that's not that bad."

She scoffed. "Fine." She turned and dug through the dresses. "Um, well––not that one. This one," she pulled out an olive-green, silky dress and held it up to her body, "this one is really…"

"Horrible," he said as he pointed at it. "Right? That was the word you were looking for. Now, what color is this? Vomit?"

"No, it's like a–– It's an 'olivey' green. It's very in." She explained. "And I'm telling you it looks great on."

"Uh, no." He reached of the dress and took it from her. "I'm telling you that is an instrument of torture inflicted on you by a bride who wants you to look ugly."

"No, Jenna picked it because it looked good on everybody." She explained.

Kanata held the recorder to his mouth and pressed the record button. "Slightly delusional and will believe anything anyone tells her."

Miyu reached for his wrist and pulled the recorder to her mouth. "That is not true and I'm going to show you, you are wrong." Then she grabbed the dress from him and walked into her bedroom to change.

Kanata sighed. He picked up the camera that hung around his neck and took a picture of her closet. He took his messenger bag off and put it on the floor.

Miyu opened the door and walked out. "See?" She asked. "Not so bad." She fiddled with the sash by her knees. "This sash is really very flat," Kanata snapped a picture and the flash went off. She looked at him emotionless.

He put a hand up. "Okay. You are totally right about the dress. It is not that bad. But," he walked up to her and showed her the picture, "come on. The color? Please."

Miyu looked at the picture. The color did seem a bit odd. "Well, it's your flash. I think its blowing it out weird," he looked at the picture confused and showed it to her again, "and if it were just a normal––Okay. It's not that good."

He looked at he picture again. "And you kind of look like a shiny mermaid," he added. He laughed and she looked sheepishly down at the floor. "But you should be flattered. She didn't want to stand next to a tall, beautiful woman and have you actually looking decent."

Wait, did he just say that she was beautiful? She breathed out a nervous laugh. "It's really not the worst one." She told him. "If I had to pick one"––her face lit up––"I've got a good one." She walked over to the closet and pulled out a pale yellow dress with orange trim and orange flowers. It was layered skirts and it looked like it came out of a nineteen-century fashion magazine. She held it up to her body. "This is my favorite."

Kanata put a hand to his mouth. "Oh. My. God. What the hell is that?"

"Theme wedding!" She explained with a smile.

"What was the theme 'humiliation?'" He asked as she went to go get changed into it. She came out of her room with a matching parasol in her hand and a matching bonnet on her head. He snapped a picture as she posed for it. He shook his head. "No. People do _not_ have _Gone With The Wind_ Weddings."

"I've been to three." She told him.

He could have just imaged it. The bridesmaids all wearing hoopskirts, pastel-colored dresses with matching parasol and bonnets. "I feel sick," he muttered. "All right. What else do you got? Show me some more."

The next one she wore was a peach colored one that was styled similar to a ballerina's tutu; only the skirt was a lot longer. He took a picture of her spinning; some loose strands of her long blonde hair followed her as she spun.

The next one was a blue one with an old-fashioned print. The neckline was circled around her shoulders and was pretty low. Kanata took a picture. "Ugh, I could probably see my grandmother in that."

She laughed.

The next one she came out in one that was a Barbie pink. The short sleeves were puffy like a princess gown, but the rest of the gown seemed to be a pulled-back, pink drape. He snapped a picture. "Very pretty," he teased. "Do you feel pretty?"

"Adorable." She told him as she spun the matching purse in her hand.

The next dress seemed like a 1920s flapper teal green dress with matching shoes and high-rise gloves. The short sleeves were even puffer than the previous one, but the two layered skirts were really short. She watched Kanata's mouth form an _O_ and she held up her gloved arms. "Every bride loves her accessories." He took a picture.

The next was pretty odd. It was a black suit. "Men wore dresses. Women wore suits," was all she said and Kanata snapped another picture.

He laughed at her next one. It was an ivory white that stopped at her knees. There was a black ribbon around her waist and neck, and on her head was a black top hat. It kind of reminded him of the Mad Hatter from _Alice in Wonderland_. She posed for him by flashing the hat in the air and kicking her leg in the air.

She came out in the next one dancing to the Conga. The dress was pink on the top with a vintage, yet modern flower design. Her skirts were layers of bubble gum pink and banana yellow. All Kanata could say was "Whoa," and snap another picture.

The next one was a bright sunshine yellow with a large yellow flower on the left side of her chest. When she came out of her room, Kanata wasn't to be seen. "Kanata?"

"Yeah," his voice came around the corner and he rounded the corner. "Oh, wow." He took a picture as she help up the matching purse. He reached of another dress. "Uh," he pulled out a skimpy magenta pink dress, "what was the theme here?"

"L.A. Wedding." She replied.

Kanata could only imagine all the bridesmaids in the short, skimpy outfits.

Miyu put on another dress. This one was a red halter top with a black belt around the waist and little strawberry embroidered on the outside. Kanata snapped a picture of that one too.

The next one was a silky purplish pink dress made for a Dutchess in a fairytale. She posed and he took another picture.

There was another one that was sky-blue with little pink flowers embroidered on the outside. There was a mini-train on the back that was right over her butt. Kanata, who was lying down on her couch, took another picture.

Kanata came out with a white cow_girl_ hat on. Once Miyu saw him, she cracked up in laughter. He chuckled a bit too and asked, "I take it a Cowboy Wedding?"

"Rodeo, actually. Another theme wedding." She explained with a smile.

He pulled out a pair of pink flippers. "These?" He gave her a confused look.

"Underwater Wedding," She explained.

"You done everything haven't you?" He asked her.

She smirked and shook her head. "I haven't done a Space Wedding."

Kanata reclined in the couch as he flipped through the pictures. He looked up. "Twenty-seven dresses. You've got to be kidding me." She walked over to him from the kitchen with two glasses of water in her hands. She handed him on. "I don't get it. All right. You––You do the thing; you have the dress. Just throw it out. " She sat in the chair across from him. She was dressed in a strapless raspberry colored dress. She propped her feet up on her coffee table. "That's a huge closet. You live in New York. You cannot be eating up space like that."

"Strange as it sounds, I've had some really good times in those dresses. Weird as that maybe." She took a sip of water.

"I don't believe you."

"Look, I don't care if some wants me to wear a funny dress. It's their day, not mine." She explained simply as if it was just like breathing.

"God bless you," he told her.

"And if supporting them," she continued, "when they get married means snowshoeing to a mountain top in the Alps or helping to caulk a fountain for some swans, then––"

"Wait," he interrupted with a baffled look on his face, "you actually did that?"

"Oh, I'm a really good caulker."

Kanata picked up his recorder and pressed the record button. "Likes caulk." She giggled and he set down the recorder. "All right. But come on. Seriously. I mean, how much time do you spend doing this for other people?" His expression softened, it was a bit more caring now. "What about––What about you? You don't have any need?"

"No. I don't." She replied quickly.

"Don't you want to get married?" He asked, becoming a little more serious.

"Well," she paused, "of course. But it doesn't seem like fate wants me to get married to the guy I want––Uh, never mind." She blushed and looked away.

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well, someday––God knows when––but someday, I know that it'll be my day. And then all those people will be there for me. So––That is if I ever…" The flash went off and Kanata took another picture of her. She blinked and looked at him.

"Sorry," he told her and looked down at his camera. He looked back up at him.

Her expression was speechless. She remembered _why_ he was here. He was here to interview her––not listen to her dreams, wishes, and hopes. "You don't get it." She told him. He was just like Chris. "That's fine. Why would you?"

He just smiled and nodded. He swallowed hard. He wanted to tell her something, but something was different about her. She different _somehow_. Or maybe it was _him_ who was different? Something _inside_ him.

He stood up. "I think I better get going." He told her, picking up his recorder and slipping it into his pocket. "Thank you, Miyu. I'll see you again soon." He told her as he walked over to his bag and picked it up, and he let himself out.

Later that night, Miyu put back all the dresses in the closet, hoping that they all would fit.

* * *

NEXT TIME

BRIDAL REGISTRY

STAY TUNED!


	15. Bridal Registry

**AN:** hey I don't have much to say other then, I went to the mall with my friends today and had a lot of fun, trying on dresses and stuff! i hope you enjoy this chapter!!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY AUGUST 28 2009

* * *

Bridal Registry

Miyu walked down the hallway of Mizuki's apartment building. She walked up to his door and knocked on it. The door opened and Chris popped her head out as she grinned. "Hey," Miyu greeted over the roar of the vacuum behind her, "I need your registry list."

"I thought you were going to wait downstairs," Chris pointed out.

Miyu looked at her oddly. Chris was acting strange. Then, Miyu heard someone singing behind her––And no, it wasn't a radio or CD. She tried to look inside, but Chris blocked her view. "What is that?" Miyu asked her.

Chris shook her head like she had no idea.

"Mizuki is in Telluride. Who's here?" Miyu pressed on further as she tried to look inside.

"No one." Chris smiled. "Let's talk in the hall."

"Chris," Miyu hissed, thinking that it was the worse. She barged passed Chris who called her name. Miyu looked in front of her to see Pedro as he vacuumed the rug, listening to an iPod and dancing and singing to the music.

Chris walked up behind her as she began to explain, "He was looking for a part-time job."

Miyu turned to Chris. "He's cleaning the apartment," Miyu pointed out blankly.

"Look," Chris said, "don't tell Mizuki. It's Pedro and my little secret. Okay?"

Miyu gave her an unbelievable look.

-

"Kanata," someone called behind him as he searched through files in a drawer in his office––phones ringing off the hook. Kanata turned to see Miss Mizuno as she continued, "The bridesmaid story––what do you have so far?"

"Uh," he pushed the file drawer in, closing it, and turned toward her, "it's a little rough. I'm still working on it." He sat down in his desk chair and turned toward his computer.

"I want to see it," she told him.

He glanced up at her and then looked back at the screen. "I'm not even––"

"Right now." She raised an eyebrow. "Email it." She turned and walked away from his desk.

"It's not––I'm not finished with it." He spoke as she walked away. "I'm not done yet." He shook his head and put a hand to his chin as he turned back to the computer screen and brought up the document.

-

Kanata scanned in an item on the registry scanner. He and Miyu were at the mall together and he was helping her out with Chris's bridal registry. "Can, can you just go away, please? 'Cause I did not invite you." She told him strictly as she scanned in a picture frame.

"Well, luckily Chris did." He told her with a teasing smirk. "When I cover a wedding, I gotta see every aspect." He explained while she moved onto the next item on Chris's list. "You know, your sister wants so many presents," he noted, "from so many stores that she physically cannot register for them all herself."

She sighed and moved across the room as she looked at the list for the next item. "She's pressed for time. It's a short engagement." She scanned in a blue casserole dish and scanned in the matching yellow one beside it.

"Good god. Another one?" He asked, noticing her actions.

She stopped and looked from the casserole dish to his face and back at the casserole dish. "To you, it's just another casserole dish. To Chris, it's the pot that she gonna cook my mother's Christmas roast in." She walked over to another rack.

"Oh, Chris cooks?" He asked a bit surprised.

She paused; then walked over to the rack. "All right, well, I'm gonna cook it. But Chris will be there," she took a deep breath, "with Mizuki." She picked out a crystal vase and scanned it in. "And this isn't just another 'vahze.'"

"Vase," he corrected as he walked passed her to scan another item.

She set the vase down and looked at him over her shoulder. "This is the 'vahze' that Chris will get out when Mizuki will bring home flowers, just because he felt like it." She looked back at the vase disappointed. She wished it were _her_ she would get flowers from. But no––the only flowers she ever got was from the marriage-hater behind her.

"I see." He said, stopping to look at something. "And this," he pointed to a rooster-shaped umbrella holder, "is the rooster-shaped umbrella holder that will store all of Mizuki's umbrellas." He looked at her and gave her a mocking grin.

She turned to him with a smirk on her face. He was teasing her. "Fine." She walked on. "Be a jerk. All I'm saying is the this isn't just stuff." She scanned in some bowls. "These are the things that will make up a life together."

"No," he disagreed, "this is the useless crap that the 70-billion-dollar-a-year wedding industry has convinced us all that we have to have or we won't be happy." He scanned in a small statue of a golden pig.

"You know what I think?" She asked as she marched over to the golden pig and scanned it in. "I think that all your statistic and theories are just a smoke screen." She turned and marched over to another rack.

"Oh really?" He asked, following her. "For what?"

She scanned in a plate that was on a side table. "Your little secret––what ever that is." She walked over to the couch next to it. "Your parents got divorced." She canned in a zebra-patterned pillow. "You have found that right girl." She faced him and gave him a mocking sad face. "Afraid you'll never will."

"Mm-hmm," he nodded, not agreeing with her at all. He pointed at her. "And I think that you love weddings so much because you want to focus on other people's Kodak moments than make memories of your own."

"Oh, your right," she sarcastically agreed, walking toward him and making him back up. "You know why? Because weddings are the perfect place to forget about being _single_."

"I think," he whispered to her, yet still with a shouting tone, "your want a wedding––not a marriage––a wedding." He turned away and sat on one of the couches for sale.

She looked at his baffled at his words. "What is your problem?" She turned to scan some more items in. "Did you have your own fancy, big wedding and your wife left you or something?"

He looked at her calm, but one could see the heartbreak in his eyes. "Bingo."

The scanner beeped as she turned to look at him, shocked. "What?"

"Her name was Akira and it was with my roommate from college, by the way." He explained, leaning forward. "So I think you get an extra bingo for that."

Miyu looked at Kanata speechless. She just couldn't believe that _that_ had actually happened to him. "Oh, man." She looked at him sympathetically. "Kanata, I'm––I'm so sorry. It was just––It was just a guess."

He pressed his lips together and raised his eyebrows. "It was a good one." She looked down at the floor, searching for the right words to say. "For someone who has no insight whatsoever into herself," he looked up at her, "you nailed me right on the head." He swallowed hard.

She looked away from him; then an idea popped into her head. She looked at him. "Wanna find the ugliest stuff in the store and register Chris for it?" She suggested.

He chuckled and raised his scanner in the air like it was a gun. "Let's do it."

Sometimes it was fun to hang out with Kanata. He always made her feel happy at the times when she needed him most. Now, today he needed her and it made her even happier to help him.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

LOVE TRIANGLE

STAY TUNED!!


	16. Love Triangle

**AN:** yay! An update! Wow, I can't believe it but today is my last day of summer. I have to go back to school on Monday, but the good thing is that I cant wait! It really is going to be really fun this year! I have some really good teachers and my class is awesome! (Class of 2011, baby!) I just cant wait until basketball season, this year is going to be a blast~!

**NEXT UPDATE:** FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 4 2009

* * *

Love Triangle

Kanata walked into his boss's office. He was a little nervous when Miss Mizuno asked to see him. He swallowed as he opened her office door.

She looked up from the computer screen. "Wow," she commented on his article.

He walked completely inside. "Look, I told you I wasn't done yet."

"No, no, no. It's good." She explained. "I mean, 'Wow, it's actually decent.' I have to admit, I was shocked, but, uh," ––he sat down in a chair before her desk––"it's smart and, uh, biting and actually entertaining as hell."

He looked at her, as he was taken-aback. "Wow, uh, thank you."

"You really nailed this girl. We're running it Sunday, front page of the section." She declared. He looked up at her, shocked. "Um, here is where you jump up and down with gratitude."

"Oh––no, no, no, no. I just," he paused; then looked at her. "I just don't think it's perfect quite yet. You know? I just really want to get this right. We should just hold it a week."

"Wait," she spoke, a little confused, "you've been begging me for months and now you want me to hold the story so you can move some commas around?"

He shook his head lightly. "I don't know. It's just––now that I'm into it, she's more than just this perpetual bridesmaid. You know, I don't know. There's––There's a lot more to her than that."

"Huh," she breathed out. "If I didn't know you any better, I would say that you developed a little crush."

Crush? No––Kanata Saionji did not developed crushes. But Miyu was different than other girls––different than Akira. But still, he doesn't have a crush on Miyu, right? "Very funny." He told Miss Mizuno and stood up. "Look, I know I can make it better."

"It's good just the way it is." She told him.

"Will you just give me a week? Just a week."

Miss Mizuno sighed. "Fine. Get out."

Kanata left Miss Mizuno's office.

-

Miyu quickly walked down the row of empty tables. She spotted Mizuki sitting alone at a table. "Hi," she told him as she sat down.

"Oh, hey," he told her. "Thank you for coming on such sort notice."

"Oh, it's no problem. I'm happy to help." She told him all too cheerfully; then she added, "And I do have more experience eating then Chris does, so you're in good hands."

A chef came over to them with two plates of pasta. "Now, we've planned your wedding dinner to your exact specifications." He told them as he set a plate of pasta right before them.

-

Kanata moved a newspaper clipping off of his office phone. He picked up the receiver and dialed Miyu's number. It rang until a voice on the other line was heard, "Miyu's phone."

"Chris? Hey, it's Kanata." He leaned back in his desk chair.

"Hey!" Her voice came over the line. "How's the article coming?"

"Uh, I think it's going to be a great piece. I think you're gonna be very happy."

"I can't wait."

He cut to the chase. "Hey, listen. Any chance you know where Miyu is?"

-

Miyu stared into Mizuki's eyes. It felt like she was his bride and the feeling warmed her heart as she listened to him speak. "Yeah," Mizuki replied, "you know, the thing that I like about Chris is there's no crap. You know, she's not afraid to be herself."

Miyu nodded and paused, looking away. She looked back at him. "Mizuki, about Chris, there's something I need to say––"

"What?"

She froze, thinking of how to say it. How to tell him that Chris hates animals? How to tell him that Chris loves to eat meat? How to tell him that Pedro was the one cleaning his apartment––not Chris. How to tell him that Chris hates hiking and dirty work. How to tell him that she, Miyu, was in love with him…. She smiled. "I'm just so happy for you, that you found what you were looking for."

Mizuki smiled. "All right. So what's your favorite part of a wedding?"

"Oh, that's easy," Miyu quickly replied, "You know when the music starts and the bride makes her big entrance and everybody turns to look at her?" He nodded and she continued, "That's when I look at the groom. 'Cause his face says it all. You know, the pure love there. That's where I go."

He nodded. "Okay, so when you get married and you make _your_ entrance, I have full permission to look at the groom?"

She nodded. "Yes, please do. Please make sure that the poor sucker is still standing there." They chuckled and just at that moment Kanata walked into the outside restaurant.

"Are you kidding me?" Mizuki asked her. "Some guy would be lucky to have you." Kanata walked passed the other empty tables to the only occupied one. "And the way you attacked that tomatillo before––Who could resist that? Very sexy." She giggled at him.

Kanata stopped walking. He watched her oddly as she laughed at Mizuki. Why on earth would she laugh like that with _him_? Then suddenly, it all made sense.

Mizuki coincidently turned his head to see Kanata as Kanata turned to leave. "Saionji?" Mizuki asked. Miyu looked over at Kanata as Kanata turned around at the sound of his name. Miyu's smile faded.

"Hey," Kanata said as he walked over to their table.

"Hey," Mizuki greeted back.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Miyu asked Kanata, as she couldn't believe that _he_ was _here_.

"Are you guys picking out the wedding meals?" Kanata asked, avoiding her question. Miyu glanced down at her plate of food and then back up at him. "Where's Chris? Shouldn't she be here with you?"

"She's… getting her hair done." Miyu explained. "I'm just helping out."

"Mm-hmm," Kanata nodded.

Miyu felt like she needed to explain further. "We're heading up to Rhinebeck to pick out some linens from an antique store."

"Yeah, we really should go," Mizuki said, setting his napkin on the table and standing up, "because Chris and I are having dinner with my parents."

"Well, why don't I just go with you?" Kanata suggested to Miyu,

"What?" She said, disgusted. "No, no. That's okay," she sweetened up her tone and looked over at Mizuki. "Um, I can bring you home on time. I got my dad's Volvo and that thing books."

"All right," Kanata spoke to Mizuki, "look. I really don't mind. It's totally fine." Her looked at Miyu. "I got a couple of more questions to ask you anyway for the article."

"Which I'd be happy to answer by phone or by email." Miyu told him, hoping that this guy would just leave her and Mizuki alone.

"If you wouldn't mind," Mizuki started and Miyu looked over at him surprised, "that would be a great help."

"I don't mind at all." Kanata told him with a smirk. "I insist."

-

Before the two of them knew it, Miyu was driving through a terrible thunderstorm with Kanata in the passenger seat of her dad's Volvo. She rolled her eyes as she listened to him. "It was like a light bulb!" He told her. "The second I saw you mooning over at him over polenta. Of course you were upset. You're planning your sister––technically cousin's––wedding… To the man that your IN LOVE with!" She ignored him and kept her eyes focused on the road ahead. He continued, for some reason angry that she was in love with Mizuki, "You're stuck in this creepy little love triangle and all the while, you're about one monogrammed party favor away from blowing you're brains out."

"This is ridiculous." She told him, trying to stay calm.

"Oh, come on." He looked at the window and the waterfalls of pouring down rain. He looked over at her again. "Of course, you can't tell him because you're Nice Miyu, you're Sweet Miyu."

"You don't know what you are talking about!" She snapped at him. "He's my boss. She's my sister. I am _thrilled_ to be planning their wedding––tickled even." Somehow he couldn't believe the words coming from her mouth. "Like I have been for every wedding that I've been apart of. But you can't understand that because you're…" He looked at her to continue with what she was saying. "You're… mean. And dark and cynical. And, well, that's your problem… pal, not mine."

"'Pal?'"

"Yeah."

"'Pal?'"

"Uh-huh," she nodded.

" Hey, pal! Pal.'" He mocked. "Oh, this is bad. You're calling me, 'Pal.'"

"Oh, would you just keep quiet!" She snapped, accelerating her speed.

He stopped talking for a total of ten seconds. "Look, I get it. You're mad. I just ruined a whole afternoon of you pinning over somebody that you'll _never_, _ever_ have." He over emphasized the words "never" and "ever."

"Stop it!" She yelled. "Just stop!"

He looked at her; then calmed down his voice. "Okay, would you just slow down a little bit so I can read the sign?" Instead, she sped past the sign and he couldn't even see the white letters on the sign. He looked back, but the sign was long gone. He turned in his seat and looked at her. "Okay. My Spidey vision isn't working so well. Do you think you could slow down just a little bit?"

"Would you leave me alone?" She snapped. He was the last man she wanted to talk to right now.

She turned the car as she followed the bend in the road. The tires squealed as the car moved. Kanata gripped his seat, suddenly afraid for his life. "Seriously, Crazy Lady, we're gonna hydroplane. Slow down."

She rolled his eyes. "Come on. We are _not_ going to hydroplane." She turned toward another bend in the road. The tires squealed again. Suddenly, Miyu found it harder to turn the car. "Whoa," she gasped, beginning to panic, "Whoa!" She turned the wheel to the left, but the tires went to the right. Kanata held onto the door for his life. "We're hydroplaning. We're _hydroplaning_!" The car suddenly turned all the way to the right and went off the road. Kanata and Miyu screamed as the car slid down a grassy hill.

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" Miyu yelled at the top of her lungs. The car spun around and slid down the hill backwards until it finally came to a stop at the end of the small hill.

Miyu gasped as she gripped onto the wheel. Everything was silent except for the pouring rain and the swishing of the windshield wipers. Kanata looked over at her to say something, but before he could say anything, Miyu snapped, "Don't. Say. Anything."

* * *

NEXT TIME:

BENNIE AND THE JETS

STAY TUNED!!


	17. Bennie and the Jets

**AN:** I'm so sorry about not updating sooner. My laptop was supposedly in the shop getting fix, but all this time it was in my parents room still not fixed. So I got Chapter 16 document off my computer and now I'll update EVERY CHAPTER I have writen for this story! Yay! Again I'm sorry! Happy Thanksgiving!

**PS:** The guy that I'm in love with is in the hospital. He has a collapsed lung and will be there for a while so please remember him in your prayers.

* * *

Bennie and the Jets

The tire spun in the mud as Miyu pressed down hard on the gas petal. The car wouldn't move from its spot. Thunder cracked as the rain continued to pour. Kanata and Miyu unrolled their windows and reached out into the rain with their cellphones in hand. They looked at the screen on their phones, looking for a signal. "You got anything?" Kanata asked.

"No," she told him. They pulled back their arms and Kanata flipped closed his cell phone. They rolled the windows back up.

"Uh," Kanata began, but Miyu snapped back at him,

"I said don't! Nothing! Not one word!"

Kanata closed his mouth and didn't say anything.

-

A blues type of song played over the loudspeaker in a bar. Thunder rumbled as someone opened the door. A soaking wet Miyu walked inside the bar. A soaking wet Kanata walked in behind her and shut the door. Miyu looked for a pay phone. When she found it, she took the phone off the hook and put it to her ear. However, she couldn't hear a dial tone. She clicked on it, hoping it would work. It didn't. She looked over at Kanata with defeat.

He looked for someone in charge while she hung up the phone and followed him. He walked up to the bar and spoke to the bartender, "Um, excuse me." Kanata said as he pointed to the pay phone. "Your pay phone's dead."

"Nice work." The bartender complimented sarcastically. "You're like one of those guys on _C.S.I._"

Kanata tilled his head back and laughed to himself silently.

"Um," Miyu began, "any chance we could use your phone?"

"Could I get a scotch, three fingers, no ice, please?" Kanata asked, carefree. He ripped off his wet jacket like he was ripping off a layer of skin and he draped it on the back of the chair before the bar.

"What are you doing?" Miyu asked as the bartender went to make the drink.

"Well, it's late," Kanata pointed out as he sat in the chair, "we're not getting a tow, and we're in East Deliverance, New York." He smiled at her. "I'm going to have a drink." He looked at her, still standing there. He patted on the seat next to him. "Come on. There's no body that you can help right now. Why don't you just sit down, relax, and have a drink? It's been a long day."

The bartender returned with Kanata's scotch. He set in on the table. "Here you go."

Kanata picked up the drink and took a sip. Miyu looked at him, annoyed that she really didn't have much of a choice. She sat down in the chair next to him. "Fine," she said, giving in. "But just one drink."

Boy, was that a lie! Miyu and Kanata both were on their fifth drink. They slammed their glasses down on the table as they let out their breath. Miyu turned to him. "Okay. February 12, 2003." Kanata gave her a confusing look. "The Keller wedding," she explained, "You wrote a column that moved me to tears. It was down right flat-out, the most beautiful thing I have ever read."

"Oh," Kanata spoke, touched. Then he spoke out flatly, "I don't remember it."

"How can you not remember it?" Miyu asked him.

"I don't remember it." He explained.

"How can you not? It was the anniversary of the father's death. The brother flew home from Afghanistan. You cannot fake emotion like that."

"Oh, yes, you can. A good writer can." He explained, looking at her.

"Oh, you're not that good." She told him. He looked down at her and she looked up; then she looked back down.

The bartender gave over to them with two more glasses of scotch. They downed those glasses as well, slamming the glasses on the bar top.

Kanata exhaled, "Nice!" They both chuckled as Kanata took a sip of beer from his bottle.

"There's gotta be one thing," Miyu spoke, her words slurring together a bit, "about weddings that you like."

Kanata chewed on the end of a straw. "Open bar." He replied.

"No."

He set the straw down. "All right. So when the bride comes in and she makes her giant, grand entrance I like to look back at the poor bastard getting married." Miyu looked at him. "'Cause even though I think he's an idiot for willingly entering into the last legal form of slavery, I don't know––he always looks really happy." Miyu dropped her jaw. "And, for some reason, I," he looked over at Miyu, "why the hell are you looking at me like that for?"

"Are you kidding me right now?"

"What?"

"That's _my_ favorite part." Miyu told him. Now it was his turn to let his jaw drop, but soon his jaw dropping turned into a smile as she said, "My goodness. We have something in common."

Kanata let out a laugh. "Yes, well, statistically that was bound to happen."

Miyu nodded her head, like she believed it. "Uh-huh." She looked at him. "I think that you just admit that you're just a big softy. That this whole cynical thing is just an act so that you can seem wounded and mysterious…and sexy."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Kanata looked at her. "What was that last one?"

"What?"

"Did you say 'sexy'?"

"What?"

"Do you think I'm sexy?"

"What? No."

He smiled. "It's okay if you do."

"But I don't."

"You think I'm a little sexy?"

"No," she told him, explaining herself, "I think that _you_ think you're sexy. That's the point I'm making."

"You think _I_ think I'm sexy?"

She smiled. "Yes."

A new song began to play over the loudspeaker. It was Bennie and the Jets by Elton John. "Great song." Kanata remarked.

"I love this song." Miyu told him.

"Hey, kids shake it loose––a lemon." Kanata sang with the song. "Come on, turn the water. Gotta make a feather."

Miyu giggled. "Those aren't the words."

"Those are exactly the words." He told her as the song continued to play over the loudspeaker. "Sorry, lyric police. What are the words?"

Miyu began to sing to the song, "You're gonna hear handsome music so the walrus sounds."

"Walrus sound?"

She stood and leaned toward him. "Say, Penny's no longer in a cement jet."

"You're now scaring me," he told her.

"Ooh, but you're so laced down."

Then they both began to sing. "Buh, buh, buh, Bennie and the jets."

Kanata sang by himself. "Ooh, the wind and the waterfall. Oh baby, she's a 'revocaine.'"

Miyu sang by herself, "She's got electrics boobs."

"Boobs?"

"And mohair shoes."

"You know I read it in a magazine." Kanata sang all out. "Oh-ho." By this time, all the other people in the bar were watching them and getting into the song as well.

"B-B-B-Bennie and the jets," Miyu and Kanata sang together. Miyu danced in her seat and Kanata did the robot with his arm. Miyu laughed.

Pretty soon, the two of them were standing on top of bar top as they jumped up and down and sang with the rest of the people who gathered in front of them. "She's got electric boots and mohair suit. You know I read it in a magazine! Oh-ho. B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets. Bennie! Bennie! Bennie! Bennie! Bennie and the Jets!" Kanata and Miyu danced together.

"These guys rock!" One guy said.

Kanata laughed and drunkenly jumped off the bar top. He turned and held out a hand to help Miyu down. She took it and hopped down as the song ended. She stumbled into his chest with a giggle. They both looked into each other's eyes. Kanata took a deep breath. "I cried like a baby at the Keller wedding," he admitted. Suddenly, Miyu kissed him full on the lips and he kissed her back.

They both ran to back to car and climbed inside. Both of them we're soaked once again, but they didn't care. They kissed and kissed. Each kiss was hot and full of passion Kanata stared to take off his jacket while he kissed her. He moved his hands along her cheek and neck and even her bareback. She pushed him down as she kissed him and he fell back. One of them hit the horn as they fell and it sounded. Both of them giggled as they continued kissed each other.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

YOU'RE THAT GIRL!


	18. You're That Girl

**AN:** hey! Here's chapter seventeen!

* * *

You're That Girl!

Morning was bright and the rain had stopped. Kanata walked toward the car that was still stuck in the mud. In his hands were two cups of coffee. He looked in the window to see Miyu still fast asleep and he opened the door. She awoke as soon as he opened the door. "Morning, sunshine."

"Hi," she exhaled.

"Here you go," he told her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She took it. "Thank you." She told him and cleared her throat.

"Tow truck's on its way," he told her.

She nodded. "Okay…." Kanata smiled down at her. Then, he took a sip of his coffee. She looked at him. "I just want you to know––well, you know, I never do this."

"Oh, I know."

She leaned her head against the side of the door. "No, really. Never. I never do this."

"No, really, I know. Last night, you kept saying it over and over again. 'I never do this. I never do this. I never do this. I never do this. I never––'"

"Okay." She played with the charm on her necklace. "I just wanted to let you know." She took a sip of her coffee.

After the tow truck finally came, Miyu and Kanata went to a dinner for breakfast. "No." Kanata said as they sat in the booth, waiting for their breakfast.

"No, I do. It's true." Miyu told him.

Their waitress came up to their booth and placed their plates in front of them. "Here's your order."

"Thanks," Miyu told her and the waitress walked away. Miyu grabbed a saltshaker and put some salt on her scrambled eyes.

"Hey!" Someone gasped as he walked over to Miyu and Kanata's table. It was one of the guys from the bar. "It's Bennie and the Jets." When they gave him an odd look, he started, "Remember?" He sang the line: "B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets!" Miyu looked over at Kanata who had a smirk on. "You guys––Oh. That was awesome!"

"Oh, thanks," Miyu sheepishly told him.

"All right. I'll see you later." The guy said as he walked away.

"Okay," Miyu said as she blushed a shade of crimson. When the guy left, she said, "Oh my goodness. I sang 'Bennie and the Jets' last night, didn't I?"

"Mm-hm." Kanata smiled. "Very loudly. And might I say you were a little pitchy in some areas."

"I'm sorry. Me?"

"Yes."

"What about you? You can hit notes only dogs could hear."

"What?" He asked baffled.

"Truly," she shook her head.

"No."

"Truly high-pitched."

Another waitress came over to the table to fill up their mugs with coffee. Miyu giggled as he spoke, "I was in key, a-at least though, right?"

"My God," the waitress spoke and Miyu looked up at her, "You're that girl."

"Yeah, I'm Bennie," she told the waitress, "He's the Jets."

The waitress turned to her co-worker. "Hey, it's the girl. The one from the paper."

"What paper?" Miyu asked, confused.

Kanata froze. Miyu being a girl from a paper could mean only one thing. "Crap."

The waitress handed Miyu the article. Miyu read the title. "_Always, Always, Always a Bridesmaid _by Ruu Saionji." Her voice quivered as she spoke, "What is this?"

Kanata reached for it. But she pulled back. He put his head in his hands and sighed as Miyu flipped through the pages. "Miyu––"

She looked at all the pictures of her in her dresses––the same pictures taken by Kanata. "Oh my goodness."

"Let me––Let me explain."

"Oh my word!" She gasped, still couldn't believe him! He used her for some stupid article and last night––last night they….

"Miyu," he spoke, his voice begging for forgiveness.

She threw the paper in his face and climbed out of the booth. She walked out the door.

"Miyu!" He called, standing up and following her out. "Look, I told my editor not to run it. Nobody reads that section anyway! Come on, will you please––" He didn't say anymore.

With tears in her eyes, Miyu had turned around and slapped him with all her might across the face. Then, she walked off to her car and left him there. And he didn't follow her.

Later that day, Kanata walked over to Miss Mizuno. "What the heck happened?" He asked her. "You told me that you were gonna hold."

"Well, you don't make those decisions. I do." Miss Mizuno told him.

"Oh, God." He sighed. "I didn't even give her a chance to tell her it was running. She was ambushed."

"Hey," Miss Mizuno turned to him, "I gave you twenty-four inches in the Sunday paper. The only thing that you should be saying to me right now is 'I love you.'" Then she walked away.

Kanata sighed. She was right. It was his fault for not telling Miyu in the first place. He turned and left.

Miyu opened the door to her apartment. She closed the door and set her keys down. The first thing that she saw was an angry Christine. "Oh! How could you let this happen to me?" Chris asked her as she waved the newspaper in Miyu's face.

"What?"

"'If Miyu is the prototypical accommodating bridesmaid," Chris read, "then her sister Chris, is cast as the overbearing, overindulging bride-to-be who at any moment might start stomping around Manhattan breathing fire and swatting planes from the sky.'"

Miyu sighed. "I had no idea that he was writing an article about me."

"You?" Chris snapped. "He called me 'Bridezilla!' In the _New York_ Fricking _Journal_! I can tear him apart, I swear. I could tear him apart limb from limb!" The phone rang and Chris turned around to answer it. She knocked the phone and picked it up. "What?" She shouted into the phone.

"Can I speak to Miyu?" Kanata's voice came over the other line.

Chris clenched the newspaper in her grip. "The only person that you're gonna speak to is my attorney! And I don't even have an attorney, but I'm sure gonna get one! A------!" She hung up the phone and threw in on the couch. Then she crumbled up the newspaper and threw it on the ground. She stomped on it. "Uh! I got to get outta here!" She said and walked over to the door. She turned back to Miyu. "Oh, but you better alert Traffic Alert because Bridezilla is on the loose!" Then she walked out of the door, slamming the door behind her.

Miyu sat still on the couch not knowing what to do.

Later, Miyu walked into her office at work. She sorted through her messages. "Kanata––Kanata––Kanata––Kanata stop calling me!" She crumbled up the notes and threw them into the wastebasket. She sighed as Nanami walked into her office. "Before you say anything, can you please don't say anything?"

Nanami pressed her ruby red lips together and shrugged her shoulder. "I don't understand. To what are you referring?" Miyu looked away. "Oh, come on. It's no big deal. It's just an article…on the front page of the section with a million pictures of you on it. Who's upset?"

"Miyu," Mizuki called from his office.

Nanami looked over at Mizuki's office and so did Miyu. Then Miyu walked into his office. "Let me just explain. I had no idea what he was writing," she told him.

"Miyu, the guy was a jerk." Mizuki told her. "Okay? He took advantage of you. Don't worry about it."

"I know. I just––I feel like I should've seen it coming. I'm sorry."

"Would you please just stop apologizing?" He asked her. "All right. The only reason I called you in here was to see if you're okay."

"Oh, well, I've been better"––Mizuki chuckled––"I'm just trying to get through it."

"Look," he started, "I wouldn't worry about it, all right?" He led her to his door. "And does anybody read that section anyhow?"

"No," Miyu told him with a smile; then she went back to her office.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

THE FINAL STRAW

STAY TUNNED!


	19. The Final Straw

**AN:** Hey, here's chapter eighteen!

* * *

The Final Straw

Christine stood in the large dressing room of the bridal store as she talked with one of the employees. Chris looked at the clipboard in her hands. "So, after we hem it, wouldn't––" She was interrupted at the doorbell rang as someone stepped into the dressing room. Chris and the lady looked over to see who it was. "Miyu, is that you?" Chris called.

"Yep!" Miyu replied.

Chris smiled and faced the employee. "We'll talk about it after."

"All right," the lady agreed with a nod.

Miyu walked in. "Hi," Chris greeted.

"Hi," Miyu replied and turned to the employee. "Hi, Sue."

"Hi," Sue replied.

Chris began to talk, "So, listen. I've been thinking a lot about the article fiasco and I've decided to forgive you."

Miyu nodded. "Mmm."

"You're just… very trusting and it's not your fault, I guess."

"Mm-kay. That's very big of you Chris. Thank you." Miyu told her.

Chris looked down at her clipboard and checked something off.

"Wait," Miyu began catching Chris's action, "are you checking me of your list?"

"Um," Chris looked down at her clipboard, "about the slideshow," she looked back up at Miyu, "I know exactly what I want you to say. So I wrote a script. And Dad says that you have all of the family photos."

Miyu nodded. "Yep. Okay."

"So, I'm going to send you Mizuki's as well." Chris looked down at her clipboard and flipped through a few pages. "Um, here." She should Miyu the script. "Please say this and only this. 'Cause we don't want to be embarrassed again."

"Okay." Miyu nodded. "You've got it." Then she walked over to one of the cushioned chairs in the dressing room as the tailors and seamstresses came into the dressing room with Chris's wedding dress.

Chris gasped, "Here it is!"

The two women put the dress onto the floor and pulled out the opened of the dress. "Step in," one of the women instructed.

"Okay," Chris agreed as she stepped inside. Then the two women pulled up the dress and zipped it up.

"It beautiful," one of the women complimented.

"You might have to unbutton the back," Chris told them.

"One second," one of the women said.

"Okay," Chris said to Miyu who was flipping through the pages of Chris's clipboard. "Perfect." The women backed off. "So what do you think?"

Miyu looked up, saw the dress, and put on a confused face. It was gorgeous, really it was, but there was one thing odd about the dress. "Yeah, I thought you were going to where Mom's dress?"

Chris nodded. "It is Mom's dress." She turned to face herself in the mirror. "Well, parts of it anyway. It was just so old-fashioned, you know? So we could just use a few pieces here and there."

Miyu looked at Chris like she didn't understand what she was talking about, or more like she could believe what she was talking about. "Parts?"

"Mm-hmm. Yeah." Chris agreed and pointed to the V-neck that had a sequin clear material sew into. "Like this." She touched the lace around her waist. "And the lace."

A lady came in with scrap pieces of white and set them on stool next to Chris. She walked behind Chris.

Miyu stood up horrid as she walked over to the stool and touched the fabric. "You cut up Mom's wedding dress?"

Chris scoffed, but replied innocently "Well, technically, Mary-Ella did."

Mary-Ella (the lady who brought the scraps of white fabric) smiled and nodded.

Miyu looked like she was about to cry. She looked at Chris with her jaw hanging.

When Chris saw that, she pointed down to the scraps of the dress. "But don't worry. We saved you the rest." Miyu looked down at the scraps. "And, I mean, if you want, you can wear this, as long as a silhouette's still in fashion. Miyu picked up the scraps of the wedding dress and looked down at them, still not believing that her mother's wedding dress had been cut up into pieces of scrap.

"Mary-Ella," Chris turned to her, "I think that bottom needs to be hemmed a little bit."

Miyu then remembered Kanata's words at the bar: _Just say, "No."_ Miyu blinked back her tears and set the fabric on the stool again. "No. No, no, no, no." Chris looked at her oddly. "No!" The Miyu walked over to the cushioned chair and to pick up her stuff.

Chris walked after her. "Okay, fine. You don't have to wear it."

Miyu slammed down the clipboard on the chair. "God, you don't care. You don't care about anyone but yourself, do you?" She stuffed her Filofax into her bag. "I have made excuses for you when my mother died and your parents had gone when we were little, but enough is enough!" Miyu turned to left.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Chris told her as she marched after her.

Miyu turned and stopped. "I cannot undo what you have just done. But I won't let you hurt Mizuki. He thinks he knows the truth about you, but all he knows are the lies that you have told him. You even had Pedro keep a secret from Mizuki. You tell him the truth. Right now! He is not one of your Eurotrash boyfriends, Chris. He's a good person." For some reason, her and Kanata's night at the bar came into her head and the morning at the dinner. "And you cannot start a relationship based on lies!" She turned to leave. She was done with Chris.

"Oh, really, Miyu? And you know this because of all your successful relationships?" Chris called after her.

Miyu turned and looked at her with her eyebrows raised. She blinked. "You tell him the truth. Or I will."

Chris shook her head. "No, you won't. You won't hurt a fly and you definitely won't hurt me. I'm your cousin, more importantly I'm your sister."

"That was yesterday." Miyu told her confidently. "Today you're just some b---- who broke my heart and cut up _my_ mother's wedding dress." With that she left the store.

Chris stood there and gasped at what Miyu had just called her. She marched up to the door and yelled before it closed, "Well, it wouldn't have fit you anyway!" Then she turned around and marched back into the dressing room, tripping a bit on the way there.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

THE PERFECT COUPLE

STAY TUNNED!


	20. The Perfect Couple

**AN:** here's chapter nineteen! I think this will be the last chapter for today, but we'll see. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

* * *

The Perfect Couple

It was the night of the rehearsal dinner. Chris and Mizuki had rented out the same restaurant that Mizuki had proposed in. Everyone had already arrived. They all talked, drank, and laughed, while Miyu ran around preparing everything. She looked for Chris and spotted her with Mizuki as the two of them talked with Pedro and Miyu's father.

She was about to walk straight up to Chris, when her Great-Aunt Megumi stopped her. "Oh, Miyu," she said, "You look wonderful." Miyu smiled. "Good for you." Miyu furrowed her brows together, trying to understand why she had said that, but her great-aunt continued: "Oh, honey, it must be so hard to watch your younger sister get married before you."

Miyu nodded her head. "Yes. Yes, it is. But then I remember that I can still get to have hot hate sex with random strangers and I feel so much better." Her great-aunt nodded. "Enjoy the party," Miyu told her and walked off.

Her great-aunt nodded still, but stopped and made an appalled face when she had comprehended what her great-niece had just said.

Miyu decided not to go talk with Chris just yet. She walked over to the table next to the wall where Nanami was standing as Nanami drank something.

"Whoo! You clean up good. I might even be into you." Nanami told her.

Miyu took her laptop out of her bag, placed it on the table, and turned to one of the workers. "Okay. It's on the desktop under "Chris and Mizuki."

"Okay," the man replied and went over to the table as Miyu walked closer to Nanami.

Nanami noticed her nervous, anxious mood. "You okay?"

"Yep." Miyu told her as she took her drink. She started to guzzle it down.

"Um, that's not water." Nanami told her. Miyu finished the drink and gave it back to her. "Okay." Miyu began to walk away from her. "Okay," Nanami said again.

Miyu walked up to Chris and Mizuki. "Hi," she said.

"Miyu," Mizuki began, "thank you so much for doing all of this. It's great."

"Sure," she replied.

A server came up to them with a tray of food. "_Hors d'oeuvre_?"

Miyu picked one up. "Oh, look. Pigs in a blanket." She held in front of Chris's face. "Want one, Chris?"

Chris looked at her horrified. "No." She looked over at Mizuki and her expression softened. "I don't eat that stuff, Miyu."

Miyu didn't believe her lie and continued to hold it in front of her face. Chris gave her a serious look; then Miyu pulled it away. "Right. That's right. Got it." Then she stuffed the little hot dog into her mouth. She chewed it and with her mouth still full she said: "Well, I'm going to do the slideshow." She raised her eyebrows she so that it will be fun. Then she turned around to leave.

"Miyu," Chris called out to her and she turned around to face Chris.

"Mmm?" She replied.

Christ thought for a second. "You're only going to say what I wrote, right?"

Miyu swallowed. "Of course. The perfect bridesmaid always does what she is asked." She turned and walked away back over to the table next to the screen.

Chris turned back to Mizuki who talked with her adoptive father. "Not getting cold feet, are you?" Her father asked.

Chris chuckled and wrapped her arms around his one.

"What was that?" Mizuki asked.

"With this one? Never." She told her father.

When it was time for the slideshow, everyone sat at the tables. Miyu stood by the screen and with a champagne glass in hand; she hit her spoon against it to get everyone's attention. Everyone looked and turned toward her; then she began: "Hey, everybody. She greeted. In case you haven't already read, I have been to my fair share of weddings." Everyone chuckled. "So, to start things off, I thought you all should know the truth of about Chris and Mizuki."

Chris looked at Miyu with a pleading look as she shook her head slightly. Miyu stood her ground; then turned to the table where her laptop was set up as she placed the champagne glass and spoon down, picking up a folder with piece of paper on it.

Miyu cleared her throat and read the lines: "Chris and Mizuki are a perfect couple. No, a divine couple. A couple whose love is the stuff of myths. Their compatibility is so exact that it can only be described as having been designed by the gods." The peopled "awed" and chuckled. "Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I've put together a slideshow so you can all see for yourselves."

The slideshow began as a pop version of the song "So Happy Together" played.

Miyu continued with her slideshow: "From the very beginning, Chris and Mizuki were destined for each other." A picture of Chris as a baby was flashed onto the screen, followed by a picture of Mizuki. "Mizuki and Chris as always shared a love of God's furry creatures." A picture of Mizuki as a child while he pet a goat came up on the screen. Next came Chris's picture: a child version of Chris as she held a cat upside down. Everyone laughed at the pictures.

Still, Miyu went on: "As they grew up, they both shared the same level of dedication and commitment to their education." She gestured toward the screen as it changed to a picture of Mizuki graduating; then to Chris who was a cheerleader, flirting with a group of high school football boys. People gasped and laughed at the picture.

"Nice," Mizuki told Chris. She giggled.

"And civic responsibility," Miyu continued. A picture of Mizuki serving soup at a soup kitchen came up, followed by Chris in a bikini holding a car wash sign in her hands as some guy rubbed a soapy sponge on her naked arm.

A woman gasped: "Oh, my." And others laughed and gasped as well.

Mizuki only awkwardly nodded and stiffened a chuckle as Chris looked at the floor nervously.

"He was interested in international affairs," Miyu continued as a picture of Mizuki came up talking business with some other people of different countries. "And so was she." A picture came up of Chris with two European guys around either arm.

"Whoa," someone said. No one really could laugh at these anymore.

Mizuki did not like what he saw and Chris could tell.

"And today," Miyu continued, "Chris and Mizuki still share the same values." A picture came up with Mizuki and his dog Chibi. Next came up a picture of Chris eating barbeque ribs with her diamond ring flashing proudly.

Mizuki took a sip of his champagne nervously.

"Their love," Miyu still continued on, "is based on a deep understanding and acceptance of who the other person really is."

Mizuki rubbed his forehead as he realized that everything was a lie.

Still there were more pictures. A picture flashed of Mizuki with some business partners. Another picture of Chris going to kill some guy with a table. Another one of Chris only a crying baby as she looked at it with a disgusted look. One of Chris freaking out when Chibi came near her.

"The love of two true soul mates: Chris and Mizuki." Miyu said as the music faded.

Mizuki looked at Chris.

"So," Miyu still was not done. She grabbed her champagne glass and said, "Here's to the most perfect couple brought together by destiny. I'm so proud of you, Christine." Then she drank her champagne.

Nanami came up to Miyu's side. "Okay, okay," Nanami said as Miyu walked off. "All right. Well, that was––yeah, so, um… to keep the merriment going, Mizuki's 'little brother' Pedro will like to say a few words. Pedro."

Chris cleared throat as people around the applauded for Pedro as he came up to the front.

"So," Mizuki began, "I guess it's safe to say that you're not a vegetarian."

"Mizuki," Chris began, "that was taken a really long time ago."

"Why exactly were you wearing your engagement ring then?"

"Thank you," Pedro said. "As all of you know, Mizuki is my big brother. But he's more than that. He's my best friend." People awed and murmured. "And now Mizuki has Chris, who's––who's really, really, really cool 'cause she's going to help me start my own cleaning business." He gave two thumbs up to Chris who gasped. "Oh," Pedro began, "Chris told me not to tell you, Mizuki. But I'm so excited. So I'm only doing Mizuki's place right now, but if anyone is in the market for a really good cleaning service, please see me in the lobby. Thank you!" He said and walked back to his seat.

Mizuki looked at Chris disappointed. "That's great." He said and got up from his seat.

"No, it's–– it's not." She stood up and followed him. "Mizuki. Mizuki, wait. Please let me explain."

Nanami stood next to Miyu who watch Chris and Mizuki walk off. "So," Nanami began, "what happened?"

Miyu looked over at Nanami. "He needed to know the truth."

"You could have told him face-to-face." She pointed out. "I mean, I know that my moral compass doesn't exactly point due north, but if I say something's wrong, something's wrong."

Miyu didn't understand her. "You're the one who is always telling me to stand up for myself."

"Yeah, but that's not what you did. What you did was unleash 20 years of repressed feelings in one night. It's was entertaining––don't get me wrong––but if it was the right thing to do, you'd feel better right now." She paused. "Do you feel better right now?"

Miyu was about to answer her when Chris came ran up to her in tears. "The wedding's off." Chris told her. "I hope you're happy." Then she walked off.

Miyu felt terrible. She just wanted to cry and say that she was sorry. She left Nanami and walked toward the door, not even noticing that Kanata was there the whole time and saw everything. And so he followed as well.

* * *

NEXT TIME:

YOU DESERVE MORE

STAY TUNNED!


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